Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission are falling all over themselves trying to figure out how they are going to go about regulating the growing hedge fund industry. All of the regulatory bodies including Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers, and the usual Attorney Generals have failed miserably […]
More lies, greed and manipulation. That is the synopsis of a report put out by securities regulators regarding the sales practices used by sellers of variable annuities. The report painted instances of, “Deliberate deception. Sloppy paperwork. False Statements.” We have warned investors for years about the widespread improper use of annuities. Brokers love variable annuities […]
The mighty NASD strikes again! The NASD censured and sanctioned Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank for handing out hot IPO’s to their buddies and friends and subsequently overcharging them. Bear Stearns agreed to pay a $4.95 million fine, Deutsche was ordered to payout $5.29 million, and our old friend Morgan Stanley had to […]
Very quickly and very quietly this past month justice was handed out to the highest bidder. The winner, as usual was Citigroup. Citigroup will set aside 4.95 billion dollars for legal costs that include settling claims that it lied to investors about the real prospects of some of their investment banking clients such as, WorldCom, […]
Curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to find out how the three examples cited performed since their IPO. I also wanted to know what their underwriters thought of them and what they think of them now. Pac-West Telecomm This company went public at $10 and closed the first day at $18.44. The […]
What truly amazes me about the effort put forth by regulators and the New York crusader Eliot Spitzer over the past couple of years is the amount of money that these guys have been able to fleece from the big investment outfits. When contemplating and reflecting over this whole mess I have visions of the […]
We report on mutual fund scams with alarming regularity and every case we turn up is a bloody shame. However, a case that we uncovered this past month redefines the crooked, deceitful, vermin Wall Street executives that we root out every week. One of the funds happened to be the Columbia Young Investor Fund. This […]
In 1964 The Bank of England discovered that someone was stockpiling vast quantities of gold and suspected international bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger of being the man involved. The bank requested that our good friend, British agent James Bond 007, to be sent to investigate. Bond soon uncovered an audacious plan to commit “the crime of […]
More damaging information has come to light regarding that three ring circus called MCI, formerly known as WorldCom and their partners in crime KPMG and Citigroup. What makes these new details particularly irritating is the timing. Just two weeks ago the government gave MCI their “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.” On January 26, 2004, Almar […]
The NASD has sanctioned Metropolitan Investment Securities of Spokane, Washington, charging the firm with abusive sales practices and inadequate supervisory procedures. Metropolitan has been censured, fined $500,000, directed to make restitution to investors totaling more than $2.8 million, and ordered to maintain a special escrow account of $1 million for the next five years to […]