RSS Feed
Twitter
Facebook
Email
HomeFINRA Investigates Thomas Weisel for ‘Stuffing’ ARS; Will SEC Investigate FINRA for Same?
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 18th, 2010 3:21 PM |
More evidence of the fraud surrounding auction-rate securities is exposed this morning in a story highlighting how Thomas Weisel Partners ‘stuffed’ $15.7 million of auction-rate securities into client accounts in order to raise cash to pay bonuses. The Wall Street Journal reports, Weisel Accused of ‘Stuffing’ Auction-Rate Securities:
Finance industry regulators have charged Thomas Weisel Partners and one of its former executives with improperly “stuffing” $15.7 million of auction-rate securities into client accounts in order to raise cash to pay bonuses. (more…)
ARS Investors Targeting Andrew Cuomo
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 13th, 2010 7:30 AM |
I know fraud when I see it. I also know a miscarriage of justice when I see it. The manner in which auction-rate securities were distributed was a fraud. The manner in which this fraud has been largely adjudicated has been a massive miscarriage of justice. No miscarriage has been greater than that laid at the feet of those auction-rate securities investors who purchased ARS from Oppenheimer and Company.
In true American patriotic spirit, these ARS investors are not taking this injustice sitting down. I have never owned an auction-rate security, but I welcome joining their fight and highlighting their cause. On that note, Andrew Cuomo should watch out. A group of Oppeneheimer ARS investors just released the following statement: (more…)
Auction-Rate Securities: The Fraud Continues
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 3rd, 2010 10:57 AM |
To: Wall Street, Washington, and State Capitols
From: Sense on Cents
Re: Auction-Rate Securities Fraud and Financial Regulatory Reform
To all those enmeshed on both sides of the political-financial incest and currently debating and lobbying on the merits of proposed financial regulatory reform, you are proving yourselves to be nothing more than massive frauds yourselves by not fully addressing and exposing the single greatest financial fraud perpetrated on American investors, that is the world of auction-rate securities.
To President Obama, members of Congress, financial regulators, and Wall Street executives, your unwillingness and inability to openly and honestly address the perpetuation of the fraud surrounding ARS ($150 billion ARS remain outstanding) paints you as nothing more than aiding and abetting the fraud itself. Who amongst you is even willing to fully address this topic? (more…)
Has Oppenheimer Already Violated Its Auction-Rate Settlement with NY AG Cuomo?
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 29th, 2010 1:08 PM |
Is the great lie and fraud encompassing the auction-rate securities fiasco continuing even into the settlement process? Information, or the lack thereof, indicates it is. In the process, the injustice served cold to the thousands of ARS investors, especially those who purchased these so-called ‘cash’ instruments from Oppenheimer Holdings, continues.
Wall Street, Washington, and the bulk of the financial media (exceptions being author Phil Trupp, Bloomberg’s Susan Antilla, and the Washington Examiner’s Marta Mossburg) would prefer to keep the ARS fraud and fiasco neatly under the rug. I have no interest in allowing the fraudulent ARS perpetrators and their financial regulators any degree of comfort in this mess. (more…)
Another Oppenheimer ARS Investor Unloads on New York AG Cuomo
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 8th, 2010 8:12 AM |
Investors defrauded in the distribution of auction-rate securities deserve a voice. Sense on Cents is happy to provide it. Aside from feeling screwed by Wall Street banks and money managers in the distribution of auction-rate securities as a cash surrogate, investors now feel increasingly incensed by the lack of support in the judicial system and in selected attorneys general offices in our country.
The latest AG to feel the wrath of ARS investors is New York AG Andrew Cuomo for his recent settlement with Oppenheimer Holdings. Rather than reading my opinion of Cuomo’s settlement, let’s listen to an investor (who remains nameless for obvious reasons). In my opinion, this individual’s letter speaks volumes and echoes the sentiments of thousands of investors who continue to hold the $150 BILLION in frozen ARS. (more…)
Did Hawaii Purchase ARS from FINRA through Citi?
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 4th, 2010 7:29 AM |
The auction-rate securities market did not instantaneously freeze in early 2008. The fact is, the ARS market started to fail in mid-2007 on the heels of a variety of market segments repricing given the liquidity issues on Wall Street. Recall that mortgage hedge funds at Bear Stearns cratered in spring 2007. At that point, Wall Street was becoming much more risk averse while shepherding the use of its own capital and balance sheets. During this point in time, the ARS market started to fail and ultimately totally froze in early 2008.
Evidence is rampant that Wall Street worked feverishly from mid-2007 until early 2008 to offload auction-rate securities anywhere and everywhere without informing investors of the failing nature of the market. (more…)
Oppenheimer ARS Investor Rails on NY AG Cuomo re: OPCO-ARS Settlement
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 3rd, 2010 5:15 PM |
How often do politicians declare victory while innocent victims remain baffled, bewildered, and befuddled as they hang onto the pangs of defeat? How often do politicians look to score political points while not delivering real progress let alone justice for those victimized by fraud? Regrettably, this dynamic plays out all too often.
I witness it in a letter sent today by an innocent investor victimized by the fraudulent distribution of auction-rate securities by Oppenheimer Holdings. This investor who remains nameless for obvious reasons shares his pain and anguish in a letter sent to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Feel his pain and know that Cuomo’s settlement and victory lap are not even a drop in the bucket of the remaining $150 billion frozen ARS market. Two years have passed since the ARS market froze. For many investors, their lives and well beings froze right along with it.
Who within our political circles, our financial regulatory framework, our media are truly willing to stand up for all these victims? (more…)
FINRA and ARS: Pot Calling Kettle Black
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 25th, 2010 2:34 PM |
Thanks to a loyal Sense on Cents supporter for sharing the most recent copy of Compliance Reporter, a publication of Institutional Investor, Inc.. The lead article this week, FINRA Readies Slug of Enforcement Cases, addresses the fact that FINRA:
is targeting a slew of enforcement actions across a range of areas, including reverse convertibles and auction-rate securities.
Oh boy, here we go again. FINRA talking tough about auction-rate securities. Additionally, FINRA further flexes its muscle by:
warning firms that strained layoffs and resources are no excuse to delay responses to FINRA’s request for document production requests.
This self-regulatory organization has truly got some set of balls talking about delayed responses to requests for documents and information. (more…)
Raymond James Apology for Auction-Rate Securities
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 7th, 2010 1:25 PM |
A friend of Sense on Cents informed me the other day that Tom James, chairman and chief executive of Raymond James, issued an apology to the firm’s clients involved in the auction-rate securities fiasco. Wow! Given my keen interest in this topic and my empathy for the investors who have been abused by the industry, my heart raced. An apology by the head of a firm the size and scope of Raymond James is deeply meaningful.
Upon review of the article, Tom James Apologizes for Auction Rate Securities Purchases, published in the Tampa Bay Business Journal, I witnessed that it was written January 5th. Breaking news! Then I realized it was written January 5th but 2009!
Regardless of the fact that the article was published a year ago, I continued reading intrigued to learn more about this situation as it stood a year ago. The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported Tom James saying: (more…)
Auction Rate Security Anxiety Continues
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 29th, 2009 10:03 AM |
Still they wait.
$150 billion dollars.
Thousands of investors unable to access THEIR funds frozen in Wall Street’s greatest fraud, that is the world of auction-rate securities.
While an initial court ruling against Union Bank of Switzerland defined the sales and distribution of auction-rate securities as a fraud, recent court rulings have shifted the burden of responsibility onto investors.
When I worked on Wall Street, I was never involved directly or indirectly with the sales or trading of auction-rate securities. That said, I understand full well the explicit and implicit guarantees that brokers and salespeople made in distributing this product. The fact that those entities which distributed ARS have not been held to full and total account is an unspeakable travesty. The lives of investors who have been dramatically impacted get little to no attention from the media. Shame on them.
Our federal financial regulators housed within the SEC are nowhere to be found. FINRA remains in bed with the industry and would just as soon not draw attention to its own liquidation of $647 million ARS in mid-2007 as the market was failing.
Days, weeks, months, and now years pass. Where is the justice and retribution for those ARS investors still frozen and unable to access that $150 BILLION!!! (more…)
