“Don’t worry, Mr.& Mrs. Jones. Take out a home equity loan. Borrow the money to buy our latest IPO. You will make a fortune!” The National Association of Securities Dealers is now investigating one of the more disgusting examples of brokerage house malfeasance that I have ever seen (And I have seen a lot). What […]
Securities regulators have ordered Smith Barney to pay a $275,000 fine plus restitution for selling very high-risk commodity futures to individuals who had no business owning them, plus never disclosing the risks. Citigroup/Smith Barney is also returning $203,000 to 45 customers to whom it made the unsuitable recommendations. The funds sold were the Citigroup Diversified […]
One of the more popular punishment exercises used by parents and teachers on misbehaving children is the “Time Out.” I don’t know whether or not it works, however Wall Street regulators now seem to fancy it. Regulators are now using the “Time Out” tactic on bad boy brokerage firms. Regulators are finally starting to realize […]
My son Stephen is very fond of the children’s program Dora the Explorer. I find the show tolerable unlike some of the other programs (think purple dinosaur). My favorite character on the show is a fox named Swiper. Swiper pops up from time to time on the show, sneaking up on Dora and Friends in […]
The wild and crazy billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban is planning to start a hedge fund. A hedge fund that will LITERALLY gamble investors’ money! Cuban believes that gambling on slot machines, blackjack, poker, and sports holds as much promise as returns in the stock and bond markets. Cuban made $2 […]
When I first visited Rome I set off to one of its most famous attractions, The Trevi Fountain. The Trevi legend says that if you toss a coin into the fountain over your shoulder you will one day return to the eternal city. Personally, I am not much for wishing wells but rather than risk […]
At the conclusion of my October 31st radio show I received an e-mail with an advance copy of an article that was to be published in Barron’s magazine. The article, Hedged Bets, by Suzanne McGee proceeded to bring my blood to a slow boil. It was my fault. Saturday at 10:00 AM ET my work […]
The business press and ever useless network news has once again covered up another colossal scandal with one of their darling top advertising sponsors Citigroup/Smith Barney. The sovereign country of Japan has ordered Citigroup to shut down their financial planning offices and get out of the country. One of America’s largest brokerage firms has been […]
Fidelity Brokerage Services is being fined a $2 million fine by securities regulators to settle claims that its employees deliberately altered and destroyed branch-office records before internal inspections in 2001 and 2002. The SEC has found that Fidelity’s employee’s violated books and recordkeeping rules and the company failed to supervise employees who tampered with the […]
Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citicorp agreed to pay $250,000 each for failing to comply with orders for them to produce documents in 20 arbitration cases. This is the largest arbitration related fine ever levied by the NASD. This is another example of how the deck is stacked against the investor when taking on the […]