Posts belonging to Category A General Overview
Posted by Page PerryonMarch 9, 2012
Investment advisers face legal liability if they fail to exercise special care in dealing with clients who have diminished mental capacity, such as those with Alzheimer’s disease. They need to have reasonable procedures in place to deal with it, and they need to document every step in the process of implementing such a plan in […]
Categories: A General Overview, Brokerage Firms, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Stockbroker Standards of Conduct
Posted by Page PerryonMarch 1, 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued an alert warning firms about their supervisory obligations with regard to unauthorized trading by brokers and advisors in customers’ accounts. The SEC’s alert provides guidance to firms in preventing and detecting unauthorized trading. InvestmentNews calls the SEC’s alert a “scoundrel alert” (“Scoundrel alert: SEC warns firms about policing […]
Categories: A General Overview, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Regulatory Developments, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Stockbroker Standards of Conduct, Unauthorized Trading
Posted by Page PerryonFebruary 6, 2012
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has issued a Regulatory Notice (12-03, Jan. 2012) to “remind” its member firms of their sales practice obligations with regard to complex products, and to provide them “guidance” in exercising heightened scrutiny and supervision over marketing and sales of complex products. Complex products are not defined in the Notice, but […]
Categories: A General Overview, Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Derivatives, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Hedge Funds, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Limited Partnerships, Misrepresentation/Omission, Mortgage Backed Securities, Nontraded REITs, REITs, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, Stockbroker Standards of Conduct, Structured Notes, Unsuitable Recommendations
Posted by Page PerryonJanuary 24, 2012
The declining public trust in the financial services industry confirms the serious problems permeating the industry. A recent survey by the public relations firm Edelman revealed that more than half of the educated public distrusts firms in the financial services sector, making it the nation’s least-trusted sector for the second year in a row (See […]
Categories: A General Overview, Brokerage Firms, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Stockbroker Standards of Conduct
Posted by Page PerryonDecember 27, 2011
The Securities and Exchange Commission has implemented a strategy of using computer analyses to identify hedge funds and other firms whose claimed investment performance figures warrant special scrutiny for possible fraud. Working on the theory that, if the performance seems too good to be true, maybe it is, the SEC has commenced lawsuits and investigations […]
Categories: A General Overview, Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Hedge Funds, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Misrepresentation/Omission, Regulatory Developments, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools
Posted by Page PerryonNovember 28, 2011
Broker-dealers that sold billions of dollars in fraudulent private placements, such as Medical Capital and Provident Royalties notes, “failed massively in their due diligence responsibilities to investors” according to Gordon Yale, a CPA and expert witness in securities fraud cases. (See “Private-placement due diligence ‘sloppy,’” Investment News). They grossly misrepresented investigations into the investments and […]
Categories: A General Overview, Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, CDOs, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Mortgage Backed Securities, Mortgage Securities & Collateralized Debt Obligation Problems, Nontraded REITs, Private Investments/Reg D, Promissory Notes, Regulatory Developments, Securities, Securities America, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, Tenant-in-Common Interests
Posted by Page PerryonOctober 5, 2011
Brokers often pitch alternative investments when the stock market is declining and returns on traditionally safe investments are too low. A few alternative investments may have some merit. Many more are flawed, bad and ugly in that they provide investors little more than uncompensated high risk. Then there are those that cross the line into […]
Categories: A General Overview, Alternative Investments, Bonds, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Life Policies/Viatical Settlements, Misrepresentation/Omission, Peer to Peer Loans, Ponzi Schemes, Private Investments/Reg D, Promissory Notes, Regulatory Developments, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools
Posted by Page PerryonSeptember 9, 2011
Robert Powell’s MarketWatch article entitled “Things are bad, but analysts can’t say sell” underscores how unreliable Wall Street’s recommendations are. Wall Street’s lack of credibility continues to undermine confidence in our financial markets. One reason for that lack of credibility is dishonest recommendations. Many Wall Street insiders have long recognized that “Hold” means “Sell” in […]
Categories: A General Overview, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools
Posted by Page PerryonAugust 8, 2011
Just as a low tide near the seashore can reveal shipwrecks, a falling stock market often reveals misconduct by investment advisers. This is particularly true with respect to an investment adviser’s duty to recommend only investments to a customer that are suitable in light of the customer’s investment objectives, status in life and risk tolerance. […]
Categories: A General Overview, Asset Backed Securities, Bonds, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Derivatives, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Investor Rights, Mortgage Backed Securities, Municipal Bonds, Mutual Funds, Nontraded REITs, Private Investments/Reg D, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Structured Notes, Unsuitable Recommendations, Variable Annuities and Equity-Indexed Annuities
Posted by Page PerryonMarch 15, 2011
Expecting licensed professionals who provide investment advice to act in their clients’ best interests “should be a basic tenet of the business,” but brokerage firms and their brokers don’t want that fiduciary yoke, says Karen Blumenthal in her InvestmentNews article, “When Your Adviser Can’t Be Trusted.” Moreover, they don’t want the public to know that […]
Categories: A General Overview, Ameriprise, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, J. P. Morgan Chase, Legg Mason, LPL Financial, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Keegan, Morgan Stanley, Oppenheimer, Raymond James, RBC Dain Raucher, Regulatory Developments, Securities America, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, SunTrust, TD Ameritrade, UBS, Wachovia, Wells Fargo
