The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have announced a combined $549 million in fines against an array of banks, including Wells Fargo, for what the SEC calls “widespread and longstanding failures by the firms and their employees to maintain and preserve electronic communications.” So reports Ars Technica.

LPL Financial has agreed to pay a $3 million fine to settle the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s investigation of its oversight into two financial advisors who “converted”—or stole—$2.4 million in client assets. So reports Investment News.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Florida man with operating a Ponzi scheme that took elderly church members’ life savings and turned them into his own luxury cars and private plane trips. So reports People.

A Georgia-based financial advisor has agreed to leave the industry to settle the Securities and Exchange Commission’s charges involving a Ponzi scheme that raised more than $110 million. So reports WealthManagement.com.