“If you would like to beat your broker with a stick press one.” The NASD has finally started an investigation into the infamous Merrill Lynch customer call centers. We warned everybody about these houses of horror five years ago when Merrill the Bull started rounding up all its POOR customers and herded them off to […]
In a painful reality check for victimized investors looking to recoup some of their losses via securities litigation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce stated that forty percent of institutional investors reap gains as a result of securities fraud litigation, but undiversified small investors recover only TWO CENTS of every dollar lost to fraud. Anjan V. […]
Ned Ryerson: Do you have life insurance, Phil? Cause if you do, I bet you could use more-who couldn’t?-but I got a feeling you don’t have any. Am I right? Phil Connors: You know Ned, I’d love to talk to you but I really have to… Ned Ryerson: That’s okay. I’ll walk with you. When […]
I usually get a kick out of the ridiculous advertising and marketing Wall Street uses to lure unsuspecting victims in. However, the ad campaign used by Morgan Stanley over the past two years makes my skin crawl. Whether it is…the ad with the actor playing the advisor who gives the ridiculous speech at his client’s […]
“Would you go to a dentist whose teeth were rotted and black?” Unless you were a recent contestant on Fear Factor and revel in consuming insects or rotten food, your answer, I assume, would be in the negative. Using the same logic or common sense, I am perplexed, confused, and bewildered at why so many […]
Morgan Stanley under their new Czar John Mack announced that it will be slashing 10% of its lowest producing brokers from its force of about 10,000. Morgan Stanley stated that it has been struggling to increase the size and productivity of its brokerage force and has decided to enforce the less is more principle and […]
Good-bye old and stodgy, hello colorful and fabulous. American Express Financial Advisors and Credit Suisse First Boston are undertaking extreme makeovers that would make the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” gang squeal and lisp with pride. In an effort to remake themselves to the general public after a series of scandals including, but not […]
Lawyers, regulators and politicians rejoice! You are getting paid. Time for some “big pimpin” up in NYC! Class-action attorneys and politicians have been partying down like P-ditty! This past month Citigroup has agreed to pay $2 billion to settle a class action suit over its role in hawking off Enron stock and bonds. J.P. Morgan […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been the theoretical guardian of the financial markets for decades. One of the jobs that SEC undertakes is the collection of financial records for publicly traded companies. For the first time ever the SEC disclosed its own financial records and ironically they read like a penny stock. The Government […]
The Wall Street Journal reported that the brokerage division at Citizens Financial Group agreed to pay a $3 million fine to Massachusetts securities regulators to settle allegations that the company engaged in “unethical and dishonest conduct” in its sales of variable annuities to elderly customers on Cape Cod. We feel that “unethical and dishonest” is […]