Jefferies Group LLC is an American global investment bank and institutional securities firm headquartered on Madison Avenue in New York. Jefferies Group has coverage groups spanning across all industries including Aerospace & Defense, Business Services, Consumer & Retail, Energy, Financial Institutions Group, Financial Sponsors, Gaming & Leisure, Healthcare, Industrials, Maritime, Media, Public Finance, Real Estate & Lodging, Technology, and Telecommunications.
In addition to financial advisory services, the firm also provides investors fundamental research and trade execution in equity, equity-linked, and fixed income securities, including corporate bonds, United States government and agency securities, repo finance, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, municipal bonds, whole loans, and emerging market debt, as well as commodities and derivatives. In addition, Jefferies provides asset management services and products to institutions and other investors.
November 12, 2012, Jefferies announced its merger with Leucadia, its largest shareholder. Jefferies was valued at $3.8 billion at the time of the acquisition, then becoming Jefferies Group LLC. The investment bank has agreed on a $25 million deal to settle with regulators after suspected trading abuse involving mortgage-backed securities after the financial crisis. The deal includes a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Connecticut. According to Bloomberg News Jefferies Group will pay $11 million to counterparties affected in the trades, $10 million to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and $4 million to resolve a parallel investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which remains subject to the agency’s final approval.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Hartford, Thomas Carson, declined to comment. Jesse Litvak, Ex-Jefferies & Co. Managing Director was arrested in January 2013 over charges that he defrauded customers of more than $2 million on trades of residential mortgage-backed securities from 2009 to 2011. Wall Street Journal reported that in a court filing, Mr. Litvak’s lawyers said the investors he is alleged to have deceived were all “sophisticated market participants” capable of analyzing bonds to determine reasonable prices to pay.
Image Credit: Businessweek