Posts Tagged ‘Auction Rate Securities’
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 27th, 2013 8:21 AM |
February 14, 2008: The auction-rate securities market freezes, and tens of thousands of our fellow citizens’ lives are forever changed as that simple American virtue of “trust” goes out the window never to return.
I have long described the ARS market as Wall Street’s greatest scam. Five years out, the pain of this fraud continues and ARS investors’ cries for help go unanswered.
What happened to our country? I will tell you what happened. Our government and regulators are ineffectual at best and corrupt at worst. You do not think so? Let’s navigate. (more…)
Tags: ARS, ARS scandal Raymond James, ars update, Auction Rate Securities, Auction Rate Securities scandal, auction rate securities update, Jefferson County Alabama, Jefferson County auction rate securities
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General | 13 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 15th, 2012 8:06 AM |
Reactions I heard to the Jerry Maguire type bombshell launched by former Goldman exec Greg Smith ran the gamut yesterday.
There are those who questioned Mr. Smith’s sanity at committing career suicide. Others appreciated his airing of dirty laundry and “come to Jesus” expose. I personally believe if Mr. Smith wanted to lash out at those at Goldman who created the culture he came to detest, he may have been more laser like in his approach.
The hand grenade he launched into the Goldman camp was the equivalent of friendly fire and also hit plenty of very good people who work very hard to make an honest living everyday. I know very honest and very good people in the firm.
I welcome being the harshest critic of those who deserve to be called out. (more…)
Tags: ARS, ARS scandal, Auction Rate Securities, better to remain silent and be thought a fool, come to Jesus, damage control at Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs damage control, Goldman Sachs friendly fire, Goldman Sachs Greg Smith, Greg Smith Jerry Maguire, Investment News Al Loewenthal, is Greg Smith Jerry Maguire, Oppenheimer Al Loewenthal, What Oppenheimer Boss' E-mail Said About the Goldman Op-Ed
Posted in ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General, Goldman Sachs | 13 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 14th, 2012 6:07 AM |
“Larry, they have forgotten about me. I do not know what to do and I have nowhere to turn.”
In so many words, I received that message from an Oppenheimer Holdings customer just yesterday who continues to be unable to access his cash which remains locked up in auction-rate securities a full four years to the day that the ARS market totally froze.
This is America?
We have an administration and regulators which fabricate settlements and try to support people many of whom were financially imprudent? But who is standing up and speaking out on behalf of those remaining ARS investors who were defrauded by financial intermediaries and cannot access their funds from what were supposedly cash surrogate investments?
Four full years later and tens of thousands of our fellow citizens remain largely disenfranchised and disowned and unable to access tens of billions of dollars that is THEIR MONEY?
This is America? (more…)
Tags: Albert Bud Loewenthal, ARPS, ARS 2-14-12, ARS documentary, auction rate market 2-14-12, auction rate preferreds, Auction Rate Securities, FINRA-ARS, Larry Doyle, nowhere to turn for ARS help, Oppenheimer Holdings, the sinking of the Titanic, what to do about ars
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General | 3 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 28th, 2011 6:53 PM |
Many participants in our financial markets and political circles clearly have little interest in allowing a full exposition of facts and figures on a wide array of topics. Why let those trifling principles get in the way of maximizing profits and currying favor for political gain, right?
“That’s not how we roll” here at Sense on Cents. Truth, transparency, and integrity are ALWAYS the order of the day.
Our prized virtues may not be embraced in our nation and the world at large, but that does not mean we should or will ever forsake them. (more…)
Tags: ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities, Bernie Madoff, credit derivatives, duty of the SEC, fearful whispers, FINRA, Frank DiPascali, Harry Markopolos, insider trading case Stephen Friedman, Jed Rakoff, Judge Rakoff ruling on SEC-Citi, Judge Rakoff SEC-Citi Settlement, Mary Schapiro, merger forming FINRA, MF Global Jon Corzine, propaganda, robo-signing abuses, SEC, SEC=Citi pact rejected by Judge Rakoff c, that's not how we roll, truth is confined to secretive
Posted in General | 5 Comments »
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…)
Tags: Albert Loewenthal Oppenheimer, ARPS, ARS, auction rate preferreds, Auction Rate Securities, Jefferson County, Jefferson County ARS, Jefferson County bankruptcy and default, Oppenheimer 10-Q, Oppenheimer Holdings, Oppenheimer stock buyback, Pimco ARS, volume of outstanding ars
Posted in ARPS, ARS, General | 10 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on October 11th, 2011 9:44 AM |
I received a call yesterday from a reporter from a highly regarded periodical inquiring about my recent commentary, ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Should ‘Occupy Washington’.
Having had a number of previous discussions with this reporter, I welcomed her question as to what I thought the OWS movement should look to achieve or demand.
I prefaced my comments by stating that I hope civil unrest and random violence do not come from these demonstrations. America needs a lot of things but we certainly do not need riots. (more…)
Tags: ARS, Auction Rate Securities, Barack Obama, Barney Frank, campaign contributions, Center for Responsive Politics, Chris Dodd, Chuck Schumer, Democratic Party and OWS, FINRA POGO, John Boehner, occupy wall street, occupy wall street's demands, OpenSecrets.org, Spencer Bachus, Wall Street-Washington incest, what should occupy wall street demand, who is heading up occupy wall street, who is leading OWS
Posted in General | 17 Comments »
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…)
Tags: ARPS, ARS, ARS scam, ARS scandal, ARS settlements, Auction Rate Securities, Auction Rate Securities scandal, how to get my ARS money back, Jefferson County Alabama Water & Sewer Bonds, Jefferson County potential bankruptcy, Morgan Keegan Acceptance Form, Morgan Keegan ARS Jefferson County, Morgan Keegan ARS update, Morgan Keegan Jefferson County retail investors, Morgan Keegan Joe Barkley, Raymond James Jefferson County ARS, retail ARS investors, return of ARS funds, return of frozen ARS funds, SEC and FINRA ARS settlements, when will I get my ARS funds back, will Jefferson County declare bankruptcy
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General | 6 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 25th, 2011 7:57 AM |
Information is everything.
Regular readers of Sense on Cents are well aware of my having written that statement on many an occasion. Those on Wall Street who gain early access to critical information have a decided advantage. Those in Washington who gain the upper hand in controlling the flow of information are also at a decided advantage.
As these realities become ever more prevalent, Americans and people worldwide are working harder and digging deeper to attain unbridled access to information in order to determine the truth and promote transparency. With major media outlets often failing us in these pursuits, where do we turn for this information? The internet.
Against this backdrop, I am not surprised to see political powers in Washington accept and embrace the reality of the power of the information superhighway and put an ‘eye in the sky’ in order to monitor the traffic. To what do I allude? (more…)
Tags: access to information, Are you in?, are you in? is obama's new rallying cry, ars nightmare, Auction Rate Securities, Director of Progressive Media & Online Response, failure of media, financial regulatory reform, FINRA, finreg, House Speaker John Boehner, Huffington Post, information is everything, Jesse Lee's new role at White House, obama 2012, obama bowing to saudis, obama in 2012, obama shaking hands with chavez, obama shaking hands with netanyahu, power of the internet, regulatory capture, Representative Grimm, Senator Jeff Sessions, Senator Jon Kyl, sense of disenfranchisement, slogan for obama re-election campaign 2012, truth transparency integrity, Wall Street-Washington incest, what is obama's new slogan for reelection, what is regulatory capture, whistleblower protection, White House Beefs Up Online Rapid Response, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, who is Dan Pfeiffer, who is Jesse Lee, will obama get reelected
Posted in Barack Obama, General, Obama Administration, Washington D.C. | 5 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 18th, 2011 8:29 AM |
Is the need to repair the health of our financial system SO GREAT, that we should be willing to allow the basic rights of individuals and the laws of our land to be trampled and violated in the process? In my opinion, this very question is central to the rage that burns in so many hearts across our great land.
Bailing out banks may be anathema to those who love and cherish capitalism BUT not pursuing justice and real accountability for the transgressions of those individuals and those institutions central to our crisis is sickening. I believe it is inherently un-American to allow these transgressions to pass without proper prosecution. Which transgressions? (more…)
Tags: accountability on Wall Street, Anderson Cooper interview with Matt Taibbi, Auction Rate Securities, bank bailouts, Brian Moynihan, Chrysler creditors, CNN interview with Eliot Spitzer, did Wall Street violate the racketeering act, Eliot Spitzer interview with Anderson Cooper, James Gorman, Jamie Dimon, justice on Wall Street, Lloyd Blankfein, mortgage foreclosure abuse, mortgage originations, prosecutions on Wall Street, regulatory capture, repairing Wall Street, RICO Act, Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, transgressions on Wall Street, violating rights of individuals, Wall Street-Washington incest
Posted in General | 5 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 5th, 2011 10:01 AM |
Did the Wall Street regulator FINRA have funds from its own internal investment portfolio invested directly or indirectly in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme? Did FINRA effectively front run the auction-rate securities market in 2007 when it liquidated a position of approximately $647 million ARS from that same internal portfolio?
Do you think investors and all Americans would like to know the answers and details to these questions and much more? Do you think we deserve to know these answers? You think?
After developments this week, we are that much closer to learning answers to these questions and potentially much more about Wall Street’s regulator FINRA. How so? Let’s navigate.
The donnybrook legal battle continues between Amerivet Securities of Moreno Valley, California and the Wall Street self-regulatory organization FINRA. For those keeping score, the latest round this week was a decided victory for Amerivet. Why do I believe this specific case and the allegations made by Amerivet are so important? (more…)
Tags: Amerivet Securities, Amerivet vs FINRA, Auction Rate Securities, Bernie Madoff, Elton Johnson, FINRA and Madoff, FINRA internal investment portfolio, Jonathan Cuneo, Jonathan Cuneo's lawsuits against FINRA, Judge John Mott, Mary Schapiro, Richard Ketchum
Posted in General | 6 Comments »