A Costa Rican insurance company pleaded guilty April 20 in federal court in Richmond, Va., to a $670 million insurance fraud scheme, while its majority owner’s trial began this week.

Insurance broker Willis Group Holdings has begun an internal investigation into its discovery of about $28 million in fraudulent overstatements of commissions and fees between 2005 and 2011 in its employee benefits operations.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued two alerts pointing out risks investors and advisory firms face when using social media like LinkedIn and Facebook.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused an Illinois-based investment advisor with offering to sell fictitious securities on LinkedIn, the social networking site.

Federal securities regulators say a Texas-based life-settlement firm and three of its senior executives “systematically and materially underestimated the life expectancy estimates,” which in turn caused its shareholders to be “duped.”

“Dramatic shifts” in the investment advisor profession are forecast as advisors prepare for the Dodd-Frank Act, a provision of the federal financial service reform to be enacted next year.

A life settlement company and its principal allegedly created a $4.5 million Ponzi scheme that authorities say enabled him to put $21,000 toward his school loans, buy more than $5,000 in cowboy boots and pay nearly $5,000 to register for a dating service.

A Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer sued Goldman Sachs and its affiliates for allegedly selling the insurer more than $123 million in securities backed by poor-quality mortgages between 2006 and 2007.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) study recommended that SEC extend the fiduciary standard of care to broker-dealers who provide personalized investment advice.

A class-action suit has been filed by purchasers of securities from Life Partners Holdings (LPH), alleging that the Waco, Texas-based company and some of its officers and directors violated securities laws.