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HomeARS Update: Jefferson County, Oppenheimer Holdings
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 15th, 2011 7:33 PM |
The world of Wall Street may go on but for many tens of thousands of investors their financial world has remained locked in place since February 2008 when the $330 billion auction-rate market froze like the tundra.
The pain of that reality remains fresh for so many who remain unable to access THEIR cash and receive real justice for THEIR emotional pain and anguish.
Wall Street certainly wishes that this ARS issue could or would just go away. (more…)
E*Trade “Heard Us” and Pays Off $100 Million ARS
Posted by Larry Doyle on October 25th, 2011 7:35 PM |
Let there be no doubt that public pressure appropriately applied can bring real results in the midst of little courage displayed by far too many in the world of financial regulation. How so?
The North American Securities Adminstrators Association recently announced a settlement with E*Trade Securities LLC in which that financial institution will return approximately $100 million to firm clients who have had their funds frozen in ARS—those supposed cash surrogate money market alternative investments—since February 2008.
This settlement is better than any other settlement I have witnessed over the last three years. The specifics include: (more…)
ARS Investor Seeks Help for ‘Theft by Any Other Name’
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 15th, 2011 6:00 AM |
The twists and turns in the ongoing saga of the auction-rate securities nightmare are replete with some of the most gut-wrenching personal stories I have experienced.
Regulators like to trumpet the progress made on cleaning up the ARS mess over the years.
Let’s hold the applause for these regulators because a full three and a half years have passed and approximately $100 billion remains frozen in those ARS which were pitched as cash surrogate, money market equivalent securities.
Over and above the cash, little attention is paid by the media or others to elevate and expose the personal nightmares of those individuals and businesses which continue to hold these frozen ARS. (more…)
Auction-Rate Securities Update: Discovery in Merrill/Maui Case is Explosive!!
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 2nd, 2011 8:17 AM |
Information is everything. The appropriate use of information can be particularly powerful if not explosive.
Whether in the canyons of Wall Street, the halls of Capitol Hill, or in the most distant regions of our great nation, the value and use of timely information is critical in determining the truth as to 1. what did people know 2. when did they know it, and 3. what did they do with it?
The legal process known as discovery is critical to elevating our Sense on Cents virtues of truth, transparency, and integrity. What is discovery? (more…)
Auction-Rate Securities UPDATE: SEC Brief May Help ARS Investors
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 26th, 2011 8:21 AM |
37 months and counting and still thousands of Americans holding untold billions of dollars in frozen auction-rate securities await the return of THEIR money.
The question of whether the injustice of all that went on in the ARS scandal might ever truly see the light of day seems to have long since been dismissed. Regrettably that fact would seem to mitigate a full understanding of the ARS mess and minimize the lessons that may otherwise have been learned by future generations. What a shame!!
Despite these realities, the fight goes on supported by the billions of reasons that may appear to be frozen in those outstanding ARS but are very much alive.
I have always maintained that the ARS market was the greatest scam ever perpetrated on Wall Street. What is new on the ARS front? (more…)
Auction Rate Securities Update: Raymond James Claims ‘Meritorious Defenses’
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 11th, 2011 9:14 AM |
Three plus years and counting and with little indication that a full blown settlement of the auction-rate securities nightmare is close to happening, the crowd at Raymond James asserts it has ‘meritorious defenses’ against making its clients whole.
Really? How interesting.
Does Raymond James hold a trump card that nobody else is even aware is in the deck? Why is it that Raymond James provides such bluster at this time? Is the heat rising in Ray Ja’s kitchen? Let’s navigate as Investment News yesterday highlighted, ARS Mess Could Cost Raymond James Up to $50 Million,
Raymond James Financial Inc. said today it could face a loss of $25 million to $50 million if it immediately has to buy back distressed auction-rate securities from clients. (more…)
Auction Rate Comments Reflect Real Pain
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 21st, 2011 8:05 AM |
Today’s commentary is a little lengthy but is very personal. I hope you will take the few extra minutes to read it and share it with friends, family, and colleagues. Thanks. LD
Each and every day I think of what I can write that will truly help people further understand the dynamics at work in our global economy. In the course of my writing I am often drawn to specifically help those who have been defrauded or abused by the system that operates on Wall Street and in Washington.
I derive tremendous personal satisfaction in providing an outlet and a sympathetic ear to those who feel that few if any people are in their corner. No group of investors and individuals deserves greater sympathy and a stronger voice than our fellow American citizens so badly mistreated in the entanglement of auction-rate securities.
While many within our nation and the markets today may care to focus on recent earnings reports, a rebounding equity market, or the upcoming long weekend, let us remember that there are thousands in this country who still experience real pain from the ARS scandal. Is it easier to forget about them? If you care.
I choose to reach out to them again and spread their stories of real pain and anguish. Why? (more…)
Calling All Auction-Rate Securities Holders: “A Break for 8 Banks” or Did the Fed Violate Your Property Rights?
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 14th, 2011 5:48 PM |
New information would seem to implicate the Federal Reserve for violating the property rights of tens of thousands of investors holding auction-rate securities. Could this be true? Let’s navigate.
I have been writing about the nightmare known as auction-rate securities since mid-January 2009. I often pause to reflect on ARS holders whom I have ‘met’ here at Sense on Cents but whom I will never truly know. I think of how their lives have been forever changed and negatively impacted from having been entangled in this ARS web. The pain shared in so many stories is very real.
I have also often thought that somebody or some institution within our government sacrificed the welfare (cash, mental, physical, emotional) of so many tens of thousands of individual ARS holders in order to help our large financial institutions. I shared that opinion in the midst of an interview with PBS last week. (The PBS documentary addressing the ARS travesty should run this summer.)
Today we learn that the Federal Reserve intervened in the midst of an SEC investigation of the ARS scandal in mid-2008 and ‘slowed the horses.’ (more…)
February 14, 2008-2011: Auction Rate Securities Nightmare Continues
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 14th, 2011 7:36 AM |
“Take it, Phil. It’s free money.”
With that statement the saga of noted author Phil Trupp into the world of auction-rate securities commenced. Phil’s nightmare experience with auction-rate securities mimicked that of so many other tens of thousands. Three years to the day after the ARS market totally collapsed, that nightmare in which investors remain unable to access their cash from their supposed cash-alternative investment continues.
Selected financial regulators, such as FINRA, have the balls to promote the success they have had in recouping ARS investors funds. Let the record show, though, that three years to the day when the ARS market froze, approximately 40% of investor funds remain frozen. Their nightmare continues. Who is standing up and fighting for these ARS investors? (more…)
Operation Broken Trust Missed “The Big One”
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 8th, 2010 7:55 AM |
$8 billion is a lot of money, right? Right.
But when is $8 billion NOT a lot of money?
$8 billion is NOT a lot of money when it is compared to $35 billion, $135 billion, or $335 billion. Agreed?
Agreed. Thank you. Let’s continue.
Sense on Cents is a huge proponent of exposing and prosecuting financial fraud wherever it occurs. To this end, I was happy to see that the Feds have had their ‘street cleaners’ operating overtime the last few months. The results of the Fed’s ‘street cleaning’, also known as Operation Broken Trust, is a not insignificant collection of 231 cases totaling $8 billion in losses. Well done. In all sincerity, I commend each and every individual involved in this effort. While those arrested deserve due process, they also deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If guilty, I hope they receive maximum sentences.
Regrettably, though, the street cleaners missed “The Big One.” Which scam is that? A scam which by any measure could reasonably be described by any of those much larger figures referenced above. (more…)
