It is time once again for another episode of Wall Street’s version of Extreme Makeover! Just like clockwork, after a major scandal, rip-off, scam, or financial calamity, the big investment houses and banks call upon the mystics of Madison Avenue advertising firms to make them soft, cuddly, and brilliant once again. Some of the latest […]
Guaranteed stock trading strategies! Trade like the Pros! Proven trading strategies! Want to look over the shoulder of a seasoned stock trader? These are just some of the tag lines used by unscrupulous radio show hosts, infomercials, software companies, and brokerage firms to sell you the dream. That dream, a newly discovered magic formula, that […]
Another Free Dinner Nightmare Xerox and Eastman Kodak retirees have been victimized by another retire early, get rich quick scam similar to many others we have reported on over the past several years. About 100 former employees, all of whom claim that they were duped into retiring early only to have their life savings wiped […]
Great news for Enron shareholders! You can now turn each of your Enron stock certificates into a deluxe coffee product at Starbucks or a matinee ticket to the movies. That’s right!! Almost seven years after Fortune Magazine named it most innovative company, Enron filed for bankruptcy. Investors this week are learning that they will receive […]
One of my favorite all time movie scenes involved Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper in the film True Romance. The dialogue between Walken, the mob lawyer, and Hopper, the soon to bedead ex-cop, was priceless. While researching and reporting on the numerous instances of investment fraud, I often think of a statement made by Walken’s […]
In a case that would have garnered national attention if the company perpetrating the fraud wascalled Halliburton, Exxon Mobil, Lockheed Martin or Wall-mart…Morgan Stanley will pay $12.5 million to settle a regulator’s charges that it repeatedly failed to provide incriminating e-mails, and lied when they claimed they were lost during the September 11, 2001 terrorist […]
The first thing that came to my mind when finding out about this latest hedge fund scandal was the fact that I have discovered either the plotline for the latest Rob Schneider film or the sequel to Eyes Wide Shut. I could not make this stuff up if I wanted to. Who needs the Hollywood […]
In a deal worthy of comparison to the United Nations Iraq oil for food scam due to its moxie and effectiveness, I give you the Big Brokerage Money for Nothing Scandal. This has nothing to do with Dire Straits, Sting or early MTV videos (before they turned into soft-core porn). This has to do with […]
A new academic report by Professors Vikas Agarwal, Naveen Daniel and Narayan Naik entitled Why is Santa So Kind To Hedge Funds? studied the performance of hedge funds returns for the month of December. The professors looked at 7,535 hedge funds from 1994-2002 and what they found is in their words is a “December spike.” […]
One of the more popular items being sold on the free lunch/dinner seminar circuit is the equity indexed annuity. It is our opinion that EIA’s are a seriously deficient financial product. I do not even like calling it a product; it is more of a high fee/commission gimmick. According to an April 2 report in […]