SEC widening net in municipal bond market fraud cases

Recent Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions signal that regulators are widening their net to charge more types of municipal market participants as so-called gatekeepers against misconduct, said panelists at the National Association of Bond Lawyer's annual conference in Chicago. The SEC's enforcement division and Public Finance Abuse Unit activities are "reaching all participants in the municipal market" said Drew Kintzinger with Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. "Under the current chairman [Gary Gensler], they're taking an aggressive approach.”

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A California-based company's plan to sell up to $500 million of tax-exempt environmental improvement revenue bonds through the Indiana Finance Authority to build a garbage-to-jet fuels facility in Gary is on hold after the company's bonds for a similar plant in Nevada went into default.

Read the newest research from The Bond Buyer on how environmental, social and governance factors fit into the municipal bond landscape.?

The Power Authority of the State of New York is heading into the municipal bond market next week with a $750.975 million issuance of green bonds. Goldman Sachs as senior manager is set to price the Series 2023A tax-exempt transmission project green revenue bonds on Tuesday after a one-day retail order period.

Click to see the first half’s top issuers, underwriters, and financial advisors.

The stalemate that has stymied Congress via the House's inability to pick a new speaker has turned months of slow progress on several muni-related legislation to a full stop. "A lot of these priority items are bottlenecking," said Brian Egan, director of government affairs at the National Association of Bond Lawyers.?

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Municipals took a breather Friday and were little changed ahead of a sizable new-issue calendar while underperforming a better U.S. Treasury market. Triple-A yields barely budged while USTs saw yields fall nine to 11 basis points on bonds in the three- to seven-year maturities.

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