To bolster its capital base and get more focus, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has been in the process of unloading noncore assets. And, we got the latest deal today; that is, the company has agreed to sell its long-term asset management unit, Columbia Management, to Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP). The price tag comes to roughly $1 billion.

Columbia is certainly a nice business, with a wide assortment of stock and bond mutual funds. One of its standout funds is the Acorn Fund, whose manager is Charles McQuaid.

If legendary comedian W.C. Fields were alive today, he would argue that there is a sucker born every second, particularly among investors looking for a quick buck. If you were shocked by the $50 billion Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, get ready to hear more tales of investors wronged by scam artists.

Madoff and his ilk can keep their alleged frauds going as long as there is an endless supply of gullible individuals eager to make "fast money" without asking too many questions. It was only when the market tanked that investors started to withdraw money from the one-time Wall Street legend and that the scheme was therefore unraveled. The same scenario may have occurred with clients of Joseph S. Forte of Broomall, Pa.

According to the SEC, Forte told investors that he would invest their money in an account that would trade in securities futures contracts including S&P 500 stock index futures.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "The New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation filed an administrative complaint against Ameriprise Financial Inc., accusing the company of forgery, document tampering, and of failing to deliver nearly 500 financial plans to customers that paid for them."

The bureau is seeking a $10 million fine. The company denies the allegations, saying that the bureau's characterization of the issue as a "broad-based compliance issue" is unfair. New Hampshire accuses the company of forging clients signatures to make it appear that they had received the detailed personal financial plans in book form that the company had promised them.

Shares of Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP) were up more than 3% today, as investors in the $15.4 billion company shrugged off the possibility of a $10 million fine.

But the cost to the company's reputation could be more important. In addition to The Wall Street Journal story, numerous other outlets have picked up the story. Anyone who happens to have read it, which is bound to be hundreds of thousands of people, will likely think twice before working with the company.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP), Anglo American plc (AAUK), Shuffle Master, Inc (SHFL), KLA-Tencor Corp (KLAC), and Hershey Foods (HSY) were today's notable downgrades:

• Citigroup cut both BHP Billiton Ltd (NYSE: BHP) and Anglo American ADR (NASDAQ: AAUK) to Hold from Buy.
• Shuffle Master Inc (NASDAQ: SHFL) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman based on valuation and near-term challenges.
• RBC cut KLA-Tencor Corp (NASDAQ: KLAC) to Sector Perform from Outperform citing valuation, concerns related to June order expectations, a slowdown in operating expense reduction and long-term concerns related to process control spending.
• JP Morgan downgraded shares of Hershey Foods Co (NYSE: HSY) to Underweight from Neutral on valuation and concerns about the company's restructuring plan.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Keefe Bruyette downgraded Ameriprise Financial, Inc (NYSE: AMP) to Market Perform from Outperform, citing valuation.
• Merriman cut ValueClick, Inc's (NASDAQ: VCLK) rating to Neutral from Buy as the firm believes Google's (GOOG) acquisition of DoubleClick clouds VCLK's long-term prospects.
• UBS downgraded Supervalu Inc (NYSE: SVU) to Reduce from Neutral based on deteriorated sales trends.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Southern Copper Corp (NYSE: PCU) to Underweight from Equal Weight based on valuation and a potential miss to Q1 expectations.
• Goldman removed Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE: FCX) from its Conviction Buy List, citing valuation.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).