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Our experts frequently write blog posts about the findings of the research we are conducting.

Displaying 41-50 out of 709 results

Financial Times, July 29, 2016, "Fears grow over Wall St's appetite for securities-based lending"

(Jul 2016)

The Financial Times continues to cover the substantial increase in securities-based lending to customers of broker-dealers. Lending has become the primary focus of sales and marketing efforts at retail wirehouses like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS. Paul Meyer, who has written extensively on the investor protection risks posed by these loans, is quoted today by the Financial Times cautioning about the risks associated SBLs.

Another Bad Broker Falsifying his BrokerCheck

(Jul 2016)

Recently we posted about two brokers who had not disclosed that customer complaints had been adjudicated to arbitration awards in favor of the clients but rather continued to report them as pending up to 15 months after the arbitration award was rendered (Bad Brokers Falsify Their BrokerCheck Records and No One Notices) and showed that FINRA corrected these two brokers' BrokerCheck records (Bad Brokers' Incorrect Records Got Partially Corrected Last Week). Last week we identified a few more...

Things Go From Bad to Worse for BrokerCheck

(Jul 2016)

Last week we posted about two brokers who had not disclosed that customer complaints had been adjudicated to arbitration awards in favor of the clients but rather continued to report them as pending up to 15 months after the arbitration award was rendered. See Bad Brokers Falsify Their BrokerCheck Records and No One Notices. Two days ago we showed that FINRA corrected these two brokers' BrokerCheck records in Bad Brokers' Incorrect Records Got Partially Corrected Last Week. We'll let you...

Bad Brokers' Incorrect Records Got Partially Corrected Last Week

(Jul 2016)

We wrote that FINRA's BrokerCheck allowed brokers to report cases adversely resolved as "pending" last week, in Bad Brokers Falsify Their BrokerCheck Records and No One Notices.

We provided two examples. The first included a large award in FINRA's awards database that had not been correctly reported as adversely resolved on the broker's BrokerCheck but had been correctly reported on her employer's BrokerCheck. Our second example, was of two adversely resolved filings against another broker....

Bad Brokers Falsify Their BrokerCheck Records and No One Notices

(Jun 2016)

BrokerCheck records are supposed to accurately reflect brokers' registration, complaint and disciplinary history but, inexplicably, sometimes BrokerCheck records are materially false. Like other problems we've identified with BrokerCheck, there is an easy, low-cost fix.

We have recently written about the problems with FINRA's BrokerCheck and suggested a simple free market solution that would allow investors to protect themselves with no further regulation. How Widespread and Predictable is...

This is Why Merrill Lynch Paid the SEC and FINRA $15 million over Bank of America's VOL Index-linked Structured Products.

(Jun 2016)

The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday announced a settlement with Merrill Lynch over structured products linked to Bank of America's proprietary investable volatility index based on VIX Future contracts ("VOL Index"). The SEC press release announcing the settlement and its Order Instituting Proceedings are available on the SEC website. The companion FINRA settlement press releaseand AWC are available on the FINRA website. Bank of America published its VOL Index in 2010 and shortly...

AdvisorHub, June 20, 2016 - "Spy Novelist Who Claimed Deception by Morgan Stanley Wins $3.6 Million"

(Jun 2016)

Mason Braswell's "Spy Novelist Who Claimed Deception by Morgan Stanley Wins $3.6 Million" reports on the financial harm an investor incurred when his broker overstated the value of his investments over a three-year period. Dr. O'Neal testified on liability and damages for the Claimant.

A Bad Broker Found His Firm; You Should Avoid Them Both

(Jun 2016)

In June 2016, a FINRA panel in Albuquerque, NM ordered Centaurus Financial, Inc. to pay the Claimant, a recent widow when the subject conduct began, $150,000 plus all hearing fees after reasoned findings that "the investments Hashemian recommended while at Centaurus were not suitable", that Centaurus was responsible for Hashemian's actions which "constituted fraudulent and negligently made misrepresentation and omitted material information in the sale of investments" and that "Centaurus...

Smaller Brokerage Firms Are Even Worse!

(May 2016)

Last week we posted Have 1.3% or 7.3% of Stock Brokers Engaged in Misconduct? explaining that the competing estimates of broker misconduct differ because of differences in their definition of misconduct and the sample of brokers studied.

Firms with 400 to 999 Brokers Are Much Worse Than Larger Firms.

In last week's post, we listed the 100 highest risk brokerage firms with 400 or more registered brokers sorted by the percentage of their brokers associated with Investor Harm Events as of...

Investors Lose Over $7 Billion in SandRidge Energy Stock and Notes

(May 2016)

In recent months, investors have lost billions of dollars as a result of their investments in SandRidge Energy, Inc. stock, notes and bonds. Sandridge is involved in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the continental United States with some interests in the Gulf of Mexico.

SandRidge's stock price has lost 99% of its value since 2014, erasing more than $4 billion of market capitalization. In addition to near complete losses to SandRidge stockholders, investors have lost...

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