Paulson, the hedge fund manager who shorted the Goldman Sachs CDO that is the subject of the SEC’s enforcement action, and the other “shorts” were “driven by disgust and indignation ‘ against Wall Street and its corrupt system designed to generate undeserved bonuses,” according to USAToday’s article entitled “Goldman case shows what’s the matter with […]
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has awarded damages to the Marcus family and their affiliated profit sharing and retirement plans as a result of losses sustained in so-called Lehman principal protected structured notes sold to them by UBS Financial Services, Inc. The panel awarded $432,000.00 in compensatory damages, which is 100% of […]
Bloomberg writer Mark Gilbert says that the trouble with collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), which slice bundles of asset-backed securities into different risk-reward classes, is that no one has a clear idea of how risky any given slice is or any sense of how to quantify and value that risk.
Responsibility for the failures in government regulation of the financial markets reaches the highest levels of those charged with enforcing the law. A recent article by Bloomberg News Columnist Jonathan Weil underscores the problem. Weil is incredulous that a senior federal official like William Paulson, the former Secretary of the Treasury, knowing that Lehman Brothers’ […]
According to a recent Bloomberg National Poll, more than 50% of Americans despise Wall Street and favor punishment of the bankers who caused the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The majority of poll participants — 56 percent — say big financial companies are more interested in enriching themselves at the expense of ordinary […]
The Wall Street Journal reports that “hundreds of businesses are fighting to recover billions of dollars tied up in frozen auction-rates securities, a year after Wall Street firms agreed to $60 billion in settlements over the collapsed market for the investments.” See “Firms Fight Banks Over Billions in Frozen Notes,” WSJ 1/2/10. While regulators stepped […]
So many investors have lost money in investments mis-marketed under assurances the investment was “principal-protected,” or “capital guaranteed,” that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has found it necessary to issue a notice (Notice to Member 09-73) reminding brokerage firms of their sales practice duties when recommending investments such as so-called Principal Protected Notes. These […]
If you were sold Main Street Natural Gas Bonds that were guaranteed by Lehman Brothers, you are likely to have a compelling claim to recover any losses that you sustained when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. These bonds were sold to income oriented investors as relatively safe investments. However, the brokerage firms that sold them, in […]
A Columbia, South Carolina-based Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel awarded damages to a South Carolina resident as a result of losses sustained in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. principal-protected notes sold to her by UBS. The panel awarded Patricia Flanagan $150,000 in compensatory damages, plus an additional $35,000 designated as costs, plus interest. Ms. […]
Investors and their accountants should scrutinize investment portfolios to see whether they contain Main Street Natural Gas Bonds that were guaranteed by Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. These bonds were not only guaranteed by Lehman Brothers, they were issued to finance the cost of acquiring a thirty-year supply of natural gas from Lehman Brothers Commodities Services […]
