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Posts Tagged ‘FINRA’

Attorney Richard Greenfield Brands Mary Schapiro and FINRA Execs as “Liars”

Posted by Larry Doyle on October 19th, 2009 10:09 AM |

Is Mary Schapiro a liar? Are other FINRA executives also liars?

Fully appreciating that merely asking these questions is aggressive by its very nature, I do not ask them in a derisive fashion. The fact is, the answer to those questions in the eyes of Richard Greenfield is an unequivocal, “Yes!”

Who is Richard Greenfield? I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Richard last evening on my weekly Sunday evening radio program. Richard Greenfield of Greenfield & Goodman is an attorney with over 40 years of experience in banking, securities, and consumer litigation. Amongst other legal venues, Attorney Greenfield has been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Our conversation last evening was riveting. If you have an interest in the markets, our economy, developments on Wall Street and in Washington, I strongly encourage you to listen to the interview in its entirety. I will share with you some of the highlights which Richard provided.  (The timing I provide for these highlights can be used in the audio player provided here.)

16:40: FINRA’s mindset has never been on major league enforcement, but rather relatively picayune broker-dealer violations and even then the violations are more technical than they are real. Greenfield said, “the big boys always seem to get away with murder.”

18:30: The NASD coming out of the 1930s initially did a good job, but over time it became less and less concerned with enforcement and more concerned with the appearance of enforcement.

20:00: Most state attorneys general don’t have resources to devote to securities regulations. It’s the rare state, California and New York for example, which undertakes real enforcement activities. (LD’s comment: I would add that Massachusetts has also aggressively undertaken serious enforcement of securities regulation.)

22:00: Too Much Wall Street money finds its way into campaign warchests with the result that its special interests rival those of the insurance and defense industries and as a result Congress and many state government initiatives have been subverted.

25:00: Every major financial institution has ‘cooked their books’ for the last five years.

At the 29 minute mark or thereabouts,  our conversation truly elevates from the general nature of financial regulation to the very specific details of the cases Richard Greenfield and colleagues from the Washington D.C. based firm of Cuneo, Gilbert, and LaDuca are bringing against FINRA. I STRONGLY encourage you to listen to the next twenty minutes.

29:30: Greenfield provides background information on the complaint filed on behalf of the California based FINRA member firm, Standard Investment Chartered against FINRA.

32:0044:00:
Greenfield comments on some interesting connections between Bernie Madoff and Mary Schapiro, former head of FINRA and current head of the SEC.

Documents provided by the NASD (now known as FINRA) to Greenfield and his colleagues show unequivocally that the NASD defendants lied to the NASD member firms regarding distribution of funds from the sale of the Nasdaq. Greenfield reiterates that these individuals lied blatantly and unequivocally. They intentionally lied. The lies are repeated over and over in a proxy statement provided to the member firms. The lies were repeated at roadshows which took place all around the country.

Who is they? Who lied? Who repeated the lies?

Mary Schapiro and senior officers in the NASD (FINRA)!!!

> The primary lie is the misrepresentation of the maximum proceeds that could have been paid to the NASD member firms. That figure was represented as being $35k when in fact it could have been much, much higher.

> Greenfield also highlights the fact that FINRA failed to perform in protecting investors from the Auction-Rate Securities scandal while liquidating its own ARS investment position in 2007.

> Greenfield sheds some light that he believes New York AG Andrew Cuomo is investigating FINRA’s liquidation of its Auction-Rate Securities investment.

>47:00

– Greenfield repeats his assertion initially made on September 3rd while appearing on America’s Nightly Scoreboard on Fox Business News (video clips can be seen here) that, based upon information and belief obtained from a source which Greenfield and colleagues believe to be reliable, FINRA had made investments with Bernie Madoff!!

– Greenfield believes that FINRA may have to be disbanded and the self-regulation of Wall Street may have to be scrapped because the self-regulatory model for this industry has failed.

– Greenfield concludes that Mary Schapiro talks a tough game, but is truly a non-regulator.

While Greenfield makes some serious allegations and charges in the course of this interview, he has unquestioned credibility and experience which comes from 40 years of fighting these battles.

Will the truth and transparency being sought in these complaints and which the American public so badly needs at this time come out? Do not discount the power of information. Please share this information which Richard Greenfield so descriptively and professionally detailed last evening with your friends and colleagues.

I thank you.

Questions, comments, constructive criticisms always appreciated.

LD

Bear Stearns Hedge Fund Managers ‘Facing the Music’

Posted by Larry Doyle on October 12th, 2009 12:29 PM |

Is it possible for an industry to accrue trillions in losses and nary an individual forced to truly ‘face the music?’ That reality, perhaps more than any other, is the greatest indictment of the incestuous relationship between Wall Street and its regulatory oversight in the form of the SEC and FINRA.

The music is about to start playing as Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin enter court this week for the start of their trial in which they are accused of misrepresenting the health of their two hedge funds at Bear Stearns.

This trial will attract a tremendous amount of attention. Why? The very fact that it is truly the first legitimate legal proceeding linked to the meltdown of our financial crisis. The trial will highlight incriminating statements and e-mails written by both Cioffi and Tannin. Additionally, we should expect the prosecution to present material which highlights the fact that Cioffi and Tannin seemed to intentionally misrepresent the very nature of their investment holdings.

The Wall Street Journal provides further color on this case in writing, A Case Pitting Spin Against Fraud:

A criminal trial involving two former Bear Stearns executives could help answer a key question stemming from the financial crisis: How far can Wall Street firms go to put a positive spin on bad news?

Ralph Cioffi, a former money manager at Bear Stearns, is escorted by officials to a waiting vehicle in Manhattan on June 19, 2008.

(Ralph Cioffi, a former money manager at Bear Stearns, is escorted by officials to a waiting vehicle in Manhattan on June 19, 2008.)

The two executives, Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, will fight securities-fraud charges in a widely anticipated trial beginning on Tuesday in a Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court. The money managers unsuccessfully scrambled to keep two mortgage-heavy Bear Stearns hedge funds afloat in 2007 amid sinking mortgage-market prices, the first of several blows that eventually felled Bear Stearns and marked the start of the credit crisis. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. bought the firm in a March 2008 fire sale.

Prosecutors accused Messrs. Cioffi and Tannin of misleading investors about the health of the two funds, testing the degree to which Wall Street should disclose bad news to investors. (more…)

Mary Schapiro Has Some ‘Splainin To Do…

Posted by Larry Doyle on October 8th, 2009 4:03 PM |

Mary Schapiro

Big money makes for a very strange bedfellow. Is FINRA sleeping well these days? A pending lawsuit against FINRA would like to pull back the covers and check to see if the money in the FINRA mattress was allocated appropriately. Let’s enter the sitting room and take a peek into this corner of the FINRA household.

In the process of consolidating the NASD with NYSE Regulation to form FINRA, the NASD allocated capital proceeds to its member firms. This capital was generated via the initial public offering of the Nasdaq. Did the NASD, now known as FINRA, significantly underallocate capital proceeds to its member firms? This alleged underallocation, known as being ‘picked off’ on Wall Street, is the basis for a lawsuit brought by two FINRA member firms, Benchmark and Standard Investment Chartered.

Why am I concerned about the arcane inner workings and legal issues of a Wall Street self-regulatory organization? For the very same reason that I’m concerned about that regulator’s internal investment portfolio activities. Transparency or the lack thereof and the resulting confidence or lack thereof that the American public has in our entire financial regulatory system. Those goals strike me as worthy especially in light of the systemic risks embedded in an array of organizations which this regulator was charged to oversee. Yes, a large amount of exposure and transparency is badly needed at this point in our economic history. Against this backdrop, let’s navigate and see what we can learn about this lawsuit.

The law firms of Cuneo, Gilbert & LaDuca along with Greenfield and Goodman are representing the plaintiffs. From the former’s website we learn:

Along with our co-counsel Greenfield & Goodman, LLC, we currently represent members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) (formerly known as the National Association of Securities Dealers or “NASD”) in United States District Court and Court of Appeals litigation.  The complaints, which are based on state law, allege that defendants, among other things, obtained the NASD members’ vote in support of the consolidation of NASD and NYSE Regulation through an inaccurate and deceptive proxy statement and solicitation process. (LD’s highlight) At issue in the suit is whether NASD could have distributed to its members a larger share of the approximately $1.5 billion of NASD members’ equity.  As members will recall, NASD repeatedly asserted that the IRS imposed a $35,000 “hard cap” on what the NASD could pay its members.

Wow. With a $1.5 billion pie, we are talking big money. In light of that, a charge labeled as ‘inaccurate and deceptive proxy statement and solicitation process’ is aggressive especially for an industry’s regulatory organization. Whatever happened to embracing accuracy and clarity? Let’s continue.

Some documents from the litigation that shed light on the truth of these statements are now public.  However, FINRA has insisted that the key fact – the amount the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) told NASD it could distribute – remain secret, that is, under seal.

Secret? Under seal? Those terms aren’t synonymous with transparent. I thought under the ‘change’ being promoted by the Obama administration transparency would be embraced. What this looks like is more ‘business as usual’ on Wall Street. Navigating further we learn,

>The IRS did not limit the payment to member firms to $35,000 as NASD and its officials insisted.

>The IRS did not issue a formal ruling on the payment to members until March 13, 2007 – approximately two months after the member vote on the bylaws occurred.November 21, 2006.

>NASD Board Minutes demonstrate that the NASD Board discussed the $35,000 limit stating, “regardless of the amount agreed upon, it was paramount that the figure not be subject to negotiation.”

At this juncture, if I could be so bold as to steal a line from Ricky Ricardo in engaging Lucy, I would say to Mary Schapiro who headed FINRA, “you got some ‘splainin to do.”

For any legal beagles and overachievers in the audience, I am happy to submit the following legal documents pertaining to this case:

Communications between NASD and the IRS

NASD Board Materials

Proxy Materials

Internal NASD Emails

Internal NASD Memoranda

Communications Between NASD and NYSE

Rest assured, I will be monitoring developments in this case closely.

LD

Real-Time Information Is “Everything” on Wall Street

Posted by Larry Doyle on October 7th, 2009 3:45 PM |

One of the overriding reasons why I left First Boston in 1990 to join Bear Stearns was Bear’s advanced real-time risk management system. This system allowed me the ability to more proactively manage my trading risk. In the process, I was able to take more risk in the pursuit of greater profit. I became familiar with Bear’s system during the recruiting and interviewing process and was flabbergasted to realize how far behind First Boston was in its capabilities.

Real-time risk management and real-time data processing are critically important for thorough and proper oversight of any financial enterprise. A regulator will be lost in an attempt to maintain market oversight without the proper systems and access to real-time data.

Having heard and read of the systems deficiencies at both the SEC and FINRA, I am concerned at how far behind the curve these regulators are right now and how long it will take for them to recover.

While pondering this topic, I read in Securities Industry News that the SEC is looking to capture real-time data on derivatives transactions. This commentary, SEC Wants to Gather Real-Time Data on Swaps, addresses the exact topic I broached on July 17th in writing, “Can We ‘TRACE’ JP Morgan’s Business?” I wrote:

There is little to no transparency in the world of customized derivatives and as a result the bid-ask spreads are very wide. Cha-ching, cha-ching. Jamie (Dimon) and his friends on Wall Street are working extremely hard to keep it this way.

In their defense, it is likely not functionally feasible to move many customized derivatives to an exchange. What should regulators compel them to do? JP Morgan and every other financial firm on Wall Street should have to report every derivatives transaction to a system known as TRACE, which stands for Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine.  This system currently only covers transactions within the cash markets and not derivatives.  What does that mean for investors? No transparency and price discovery for investors in the customized derivatives space. As such, Jamie and friends can keep those bid-ask spreads nice and wide and ring up huge profits in the process.

Securities Industry News writes:

The Securities and Exchange Commission told Congress today to grant regulators “direct access to real-time data” on credit default swaps (CDS) and other derivatives.

The request comes, the agency said, because the lack of such information hampered its efforts to investigate potential fraud and market manipulation in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets during last fall’s financial crisis.

The SEC’s enforcement actions in investigating market manipulation in OTC derivatives “were seriously complicated by the lack of a mechanism for promptly obtaining critical information – who traded, how much, and when – that is complete and accurate,” said Henry Hu, the director of the SEC’s new division of risk, strategy and financial innovation, in written testimony to the House Financial Services Committee.

Hu testified that “data on securities-related OTC derivative transactions were not readily available, and needed to be reconstructed manually.” He asked Congress to expand the SEC’s inspection authority over trade data repositories and clearinghouses for derivatives.

The comments represented a rebuke to industry efforts aimed thus far at making more information on CDS and other OTC derivatives data more readily available.

What do we learn here? Information is EVERYTHING!! Wall Street is fighting tooth and nail to protect its golden goose within the derivatives space by hoarding this information.

Why is the SEC even asking for the information? If anybody in Washington truly had a set of cojones, they would merely TELL Wall Street how it is going to work going forward . . . take the information, and fulfill their responsibility to protect the public interest.

LD

Did Uncle Sam Intentionally Mislead the American Public?

Posted by Larry Doyle on October 5th, 2009 12:40 PM |

“You can’t handle the truth!!”

While the above line by Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men may have made for good theatre, it makes for lousy public policy. Regrettably, Uncle Sam has utilized that approach in its initial disbursement of funds via the TARP (Troubled Asset Recovery Program).  That opinion is not strictly mine (although I do agree with it), but rather that of Neil Barofsky, the inspector general charged with overseeing the bank bailouts.

The New York Times sheds light on Barofsky’s feelings this morning in writing, Inspector’s Report on Bailouts Says Treasury Misled Public:

The inspector general who oversees the government’s bailout of the banking system is criticizing the Treasury Department for some misleading public statements last fall and raising the possibility that it had unfairly disbursed money to the biggest banks.

A Treasury official made incorrect statements about the health of the nation’s biggest banks even as the government was doling out billions of dollars in aid, according to a report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program to be released on Monday by the special inspector general, Neil M. Barofsky.

There is NO doubt that Uncle Sam, in the persons of Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, Larry Summers et al, has little confidence that the American public can handle the truth about the overall health of our banking industry.

That said, the lack of transparency and integrity as highlighted by Mr. Barofsky does not come without a cost. What is that cost? Lessened confidence in our regulators and our markets going forward.

I addressed these very topics of financial regulatory transparency and integrity on my radio show last evening. In the process of interviewing former SEC attorney Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, I made the following comment in regard to the statement put forth a month ago by SEC Inspector General David Kotz dealing with the SEC’s failures on the Madoff investigation. I said:

If that is the kind of face saving self-serving approach, people are going to call foul on it. The real cost is, and I think we are bearing this cost right now whether with the SEC or with FINRA, if you’re not going to be honest with us how can we fully trust that you’ll be honest on a going forward basis?

Now I’ll grant you I guess we don’t have much choice. What are we going to scrap the entire SEC or scrap the entire FINRA and start from scratch? Some people may say that’s what we want to do, but that’s obviously not going to happen.

It does get to the point where there’s got to be total transparency. There’s got to be total integrity. There’s got to be total accountability and if people haven’t done the job or are incapable of doing the job then you know what, for the long haul – and I’m not talking about the next six months but rather the next ten, fifteen, twenty years – people got to go and other people got to come!!

Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot responded:

“I agree. That’s true.”

How about you, what do you think? Can you handle the truth? Wouldn’t you like to be given the opportunity?

LD

Note: the views expressed by Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot during last night’s show are her own personal views and do not in any way reflect her position as an employee of the Federal Reserve Board.

Is Wall Street On the Up and Up?

Posted by Larry Doyle on October 3rd, 2009 11:57 AM |

The core of that question resides within the regulatory oversight of our financial industry.  The American public is beginning to learn a lot about this financial regulatory oversight. How so? A month ago, SEC Inspector General David Kotz released a report, Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme (embedded here). Yesterday, the Wall Street self-regulatory organization, FINRA, released Report of the 2009 Special Review Committee on FINRA’s Examination Program In Light of the Stanford and Madoff Schemes.

What did we learn from yesterday’s report? Plenty. For that, I commend all those involved in this effort. With all due respect to FINRA employees who have legitimately tried to fulfill their obligations to the best of their abilities, yesterday’s report is nothing short of a massive indictment of FINRA’s management, FINRA’s board, and the SEC which is charged to oversee FINRA. Why? Having read this report twice and studied critical components of it, FINRA is exposed as nothing more than a collection of crossing guards . . . said with all due respect to crossing guards. Have the supervisors of the crossing guards been so heavily influenced by Wall Street so as to render large parts of the FINRA mission ineffective? Many believe this to be true, including me.

Why so harsh? Let’s navigate and be a little more aggressive than the mainstream financial media in analyzing this report. In the process, I think you will appreciate my assessment and also realize there are many more questions which need to be answered.

The FINRA report is largely divided into the organization’s dealings with the financial frauds encompassing Allen Stanford and Bernard Madoff. Referencing the massive regulatory failings on FINRA’s behalf in these two cases, the authors provide recommendations which FINRA’s management will present for approval or ratification at the December 2009 Board meeting.

For purposes here, I will not regurgitate the numerous individual failings of FINRA examiners and management in each of these cases. Rather, I will highlight those failings which I find most egregious. In turn, I want to focus on highlighting the recommendations so the American public can truly understand how woefully inept, incompetent, and ill-prepared this financial self-regulatory organization has been and currently is to uphold its mission to protect investors. Against that backdrop, I will then lay out questions which I deem to be critically important for FINRA to answer if the American public can ever regain a degree of confidence in the oversight of Wall Street.

>> Stanford Case

1. In 2003, the Stanford broker-dealer generated 68% of its revenues from the sale of Stanford International Bank CD’s. Are you kidding me? Red Flag!! That finding did not prompt the examiner to dig deeper?!

2. A 2003 Anonymous Tip Letter laid out the Stanford scheme in detail.

3. In 2005, a FINRA examiner learned that the Stanford broker-dealer is paid an annual fee of 3% of the deposit sum for every CD. Another red flag! Standard practice would have bankers or securities salespeople earning a one-time fee of maximum .25%.

At this point, Stanford International Bank had raised approximately $1.5 billion in what would grow to a $7.2 billion scam.

With all due respect to FINRA employees who may have continued to look into Stanford over the 2005-2008 time period, truth be told FINRA did not further aggressively pursue this case until the Madoff situation broke in December 2008.

>> Madoff Case

1. FINRA largely limits its review of the Madoff scam to the 2003-present time period. Why not go back further? FINRA had longstanding oversight of the Madoff enterprise.

2. FINRA largely reduces the extensive relationships between Bernie Madoff and family members with FINRA to nothing more than a footnote. That footnote on page 46 provides a cursory approval of FINRA’s relationship with the Madoff firm and family. Why aren’t these relationships more deeply explored?

3. The report acknowledges what we always knew about FINRA having oversight of Madoff’s operation. FINRA representatives, including Mary Schapiro, have willingly and intentionally misrepresented the fact that FINRA had oversight of Madoff’s enterprise. Did Mary Schapiro perjure herself on this topic during her confirmation hearings to be Head of the SEC? Well, she may not have perjured herself, but she and others have willingly misrepresented FINRA’s required oversight of Madoff over the long time period when Madoff was strictly a registered broker-dealer and ran this massive Ponzi scheme within that framework.

4. FINRA failed to detect the full breadth of the relationship between Cohmad Securities and Madoff.  Bernie Madoff and his brother Peter owned 24% of Cohmad, and the Cohmad broker-dealer operated within the same office space as Bernard Madoff Investment Securities. Cohmad was largely a front for feeding customers into Madoff’s scam. The report provides:

Cohmad was registered as a broker-dealer and reported having approximately 750 to 850 customer accounts, which were held by and cleared through Bear Stearns Securities Corporation. These accounts usually generated roughly 300 transactions per month, mostly in equities and, to a lesser extent, municipal bonds.

I would very much like to know more details about these municipal bonds. Were they municipal auction rate securities?

5. How did FINRA miss the Madoff scam? This report acknowledges the fact that FINRA examiners merely took Madoff and his representatives at their word that Madoff was running nothing more than a broker-dealer. Are you kidding me? It was common knowledge that Madoff had a money management business. FINRA maintains that the FINRA ‘crossing guards’ checked the little boxes on their Madoff review sheets and went on their way. (more…)

Wall Street Journal Goes in the Tank for FINRA

Posted by Larry Doyle on September 25th, 2009 9:18 AM |

When did real journalism move from asking the hard questions and demanding answers to the mere parroting of a party line? Recent polls indicate a lessened confidence in the media in our country. Why? Journalism has largely abdicated its responsibility to be the public conscience. I see evidence of this ‘parroting’ in today’s Wall Street Journal, which reports After 27% Fall, FINRA Plays It Safe.

FINRA, the Wall Street self-regulatory organization, has been under increasing pressure lately with the spotlight focused primarily on its investment portfolio activities. FINRA has provided virtually little to no transparency and, as such, currently faces 3 lawsuits by member firms. There is no doubt in my mind that today’s WSJ article is an attempt by FINRA to display a degree of transparency in order to keep the wolves at bay. Is FINRA fully transparent? Not in my opinion.

Did the WSJ pursue this story or was it conveniently placed to deflect the heavy criticism and charges FINRA faces in the lawsuits? Make no mistake, the WSJ has been largely absent in aggressively covering developments in and around FINRA. The returns generated by FINRA’s investment portfolio and its shift to a conservative strategy have been widely disseminated over the last few months and were highlighted here at Sense on Cents on June 29th when I wrote “FINRA 2008 Annual Report: A Special Type of Hubris”:

I personally believe it is very important for a financial self-regulatory organization, such as FINRA, to be totally transparent in every regard. Why? Very simply, transparency promotes confidence and FINRA’s position as a financial regulator should begin and end with that goal.

Against that backdrop, FINRA should not directly manage any of their own funds. To do so is an open invitation for conflicts of interest. FINRA’s own investment portfolio, managed by an Investment Committee, generated a negative 26% return in 2008. In April 2009, the FINRA portfolio shifted to a lower volatility approach but in 2008 it continued to have exposure to hedge funds, fund of funds, and private equity. As much as I believe this is a very big deal, it pales in comparison to the major issue I, and others, have with FINRA: their involvement with Auction-Rate Securities.

Why do I feel so strongly that the WSJ is serving as a mouthpiece for FINRA rather than truly digging for total transparency? Let’s zero in on how the WSJ addresses this auction-rate securities angle. As we do this, please recall the following:

1. $165 billion ARS remain frozen in investor accounts

2. A federal judge has designated the sales and marketing of ARS to be a fraud

3. FINRA did not post on its own website the failing nature and ultimate total failure of the ARS market until 2008, well after it liquidated its own position.

The WSJ, a proud financial periodical, provides less than cursory coverage to this piece of the FINRA story, in writing:

Finra used an outside consultant, Jeffrey Slocum & Associates of Minneapolis, to help choose money managers. In 2006, Finra hired as chief investment officer Boris A. Wessely, then treasurer at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Ms. Schapiro succeeded Mr. Glauber as the agency’s CEO in mid-2006.

One early step by Mr. Wessely’s team was the mid-2007 sale of about $650 million of auction-rate securities. The sale wasn’t influenced by any sign of weakness in the auction-rate market, which froze in 2008, but instead was a move to diversify Finra’s short-term investments away from such a niche product, people with knowledge of the move say. (LD’s highlight)

People with knowledge of the move say?? That is the best the WSJ can do to pursue what truly happened with FINRA’s sale of ARS? That statement is the equivalent of FINRA or whomever the ‘people with knowledge’ stating, ‘you’ll have to trust us on this.’

I would put forth that the days of blind trust are over and that for the thousands of investors sitting with those $165 billion in frozen ARS the days of verification are upon us.

I reiterate my longstanding call that FINRA must reveal all the details surrounding its ARS liquidation. Those details include the date of liquidation, the proceeds, the dealer or dealers through whom FINRA liquidated the ARS, and most importantly whether FINRA possessed material, non-public information and acted upon it.

I fully appreciate that my writing and questions here are aggressive, but at this point in our country’s history the American public deserves nothing less than full and total transparency from its financial regulators. Regrettably, both FINRA and the WSJ fall woefully short in providing it.

Comments, questions, constructive criticisms always appreciated.

LD

Attorney Claims Wall Street’s Cop, FINRA, Invested in Madoff

Posted by Larry Doyle on September 15th, 2009 3:23 PM |

On the heels of President Obama’s speech on Wall Street in which he called for meaningful financial regulatory reform, I welcome submitting to him and the American public the following video clips. These clips are from Fox Business News “America’s Nightly Scoreboard” with David Asman on September 3rd.

While President Obama and Congress may believe financial regulatory reform needs to focus on the SEC, the Federal Reserve and assorted other governmental agencies, I would remind the President and his Congressional colleagues that Wall Street is regulated not only by the SEC but to a great extent by the self-regulatory organization known as FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority).

This discussion on “America’s Nightly Scoreboard” is separated into two parts.

Highlights from the videos include:

1. Richard Greenfield, an attorney representing Amerivet Securities, makes the claim that FINRA under the leadership of Mary Schapiro failed to protect investors.

2. Former SEC chair Harvey Pitt defends Shapiro and FINRA

3. Greenfield indicates that a FINRA insider claims FINRA invested in Madoff!!

4. In Part II of the video clips, your host here at Sense on Cents joins the panel and provides details as to why FINRA, via its parent the NASD, did have responsibility to oversee Madoff. I also comment on the nature of the relationship between Wall Street and Washington, FINRA’s investment and timely liquidation of its Auction-Rate Securities position, and the need for total transparency at FINRA.

4. Head of the Madoff Victims Coalition for Investor Protection, Ronnie Sue Ambrosino, weighs in that the entire regulatory structure from the SEC to FINRA to SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation) have failed to protect investors.

In my humble opinion, the conclusion of this show highlights the screaming need for FINRA to open its books and records for a full and thorough independent analysis and review. In so doing, hopefully investors specifically and the American public at large can regain a degree of confidence in the badly shattered Wall Street regulatory process.

If you care about the markets and our country, I beseech you to watch this 18 minute video in its entirety.

Thoughts, comments, questions always welcome and appreciated.

LD

PART I

PART II

Attorney Representing Amerivet Securities Makes Claim FINRA Insider Confirms Investment in Madoff

Posted by Larry Doyle on September 4th, 2009 1:20 PM |

Did we just find the smoking gun which indicates that FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) actually invested in the Madoff Ponzi scheme?

I was on a panel last evening on America’s Nightly Scoreboard on Fox Business News (the entire transcript can be found at this link). The topic was one which regular readers of Sense on Cents are most familiar, that being FINRA.

The show is hosted by David Asman. Panelists included Richard Greenfield, an attorney representing Amerivet Securities in its suit against FINRA; former SEC chair Harvey Pitt; Madoff Victims Coalition head Ronnie Sue Ambrosino and her husband Dominic; and yours truly.

I commend the host of the show, David Asman, for being thorough, professional, balanced, and aggressive in addressing the topic. We covered a number of angles including:

1. Amerivet Securities complaint vs. FINRA

2. Mary Schapiro’s tenure and compensation at FINRA

3. FINRA’s investment portfolio, including its sale of auction-rate securities.

4. Did FINRA invest in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme?

There were a few bombshells that came out of our discussion, including a claim by Mr. Greenfield, the Amerivet Securities attorney, that “somebody well-placed within the organization (FINRA) that told us, in no uncertain terms, there was an investment with Madoff.”

Additionally, former SEC chairman Harvey Pitt provided a qualified endorsement of FINRA opening its books and records in an acknowledgement of the need for greater transparency.

I am happy to provide the transcript of the dialogue which encompassed these two momentous statements:

ASMAN: Harvey, for example, I used to work at the “Wall Street Journal” and we had very strict restrictions about what we could buy, how long we could hold stocks if we bought it, and how we had to disclose it and that sort of thing. It doesn’t seem at least that those disclosure policies apply to FINRA, at least in the case finding out whether they invested with Madoff.

PITT: I don’t — there has been a fair amount of, shall we say, opacity with respect to what the investment activities are and the like. In a real sense, I think that’s probably ill-advised for an enterprise that has regulatory responsibilities.

But so putting that to one side, I do think that people are entitled to know where their money is coming from, where their money is going, what it is being spent and the like. The fact of the matter is the SEC does oversee all these operations. It does overlook all these things. FINRA has been under the microscope at the SEC for many, many years, long before Mary Schapiro got to the SEC.

ASMAN: I want to bring in other parties. But I want to go back to Counselor Greenfield.

Richard Greenfield, how did you get information suggesting that indeed FINRA was investing with Madoff?

GREENFIELD: Well, we got the information, number one, in two different ways. Number one, it has been rumored through many people on Wall Street that there was an investment either through a feeder fund or some other means. Secondly, we also got information from somebody well-placed within the organization that told us, in no uncertain terms, there was an investment with Madoff.

ASMAN: OK. All right. So I think it’s fair to say that FINRA owes the public some answers here.

So joining us now with — are some people who are demanding answers. Larry Doyle, a Wall Street veteran, 23 years, who currently operates his own web site, Sense on Cents — “sense” with an “S” and “cents” with a “C” — which is geared to help people navigate the landscape.

Ronnie Sue and Dominic Ambrosino, good friends of “Scoreboard”, they are Madoff victims who are mobilizing a campaign for greater transparency.

Thanks for coming in.

RONNIE SUE AMBROSINO: Thank you.

ASMAN: Larry, first to you. What do you think about Harvey’s description of the situation?

LARRY DOYLE, WALL STREET VETERAN & SENSE ON CENTS WEB SITE OWNER: I would say two things in regard to the former chairman’s statement. First and foremost, Madoff did not become a registered investment advisor until 2006. FINRA obviously wasn’t formed until 2007. FINRA’s parent, that being, FINRA was formed from the regulatory arms of the New York Stock Exchange, and the NASD.

ASMAN: Right.

DOYLE: The fact is, the NASD did have oversight of Madoff, and so there is an obligation by, to look into the NASD’s activities because, at that point, it was just a broker-dealer.

ASMAN: Have you formulated your own opinion whether there was a conflict of interest here?

DOYLE: Without a doubt. Without a doubt. The fact of the matter is FINRA is a big-money organization. We know they invested in hedge funds, fund of funds, private equity. And they also had a significant investment in auction rate securities, which is sector of the market that has been designated as a fraud by federal judges. The fact of the matter is we know, and have learned from FINRA, that FINRA exited their auction rates securities position, $647 million worth, in mid 2007, as the market was failing, and when they were supposed to be protecting investors.

Further along in the dialogue, we engage in the need for FINRA to open its books and records:

ASMAN: That is great point, Ronnie Sue.

And, Larry, it goes to the point that a lot of people are looking from the outside at what goes on inside in Wall Street and Washington. It’s that Wall Street, Washington nexus. They see all these folks kind of related with each other. The SEC related with FINRA, and related with NASD. You look at Mary Schapiro’s career and you see that. They can miss things because they’re only talking to each other.

DOYLE: I think the term there is incestuous. So the fact of the matter is Washington has an opportunity through this financial regulatory reform to bring total transparency.

ASMAN: How would you do that? Open the records of FINRA?

DOYLE: Open the books. What — what individual in America right now wouldn’t make — doesn’t it make sense for FINRA to be forced to open their books and records, full and total transparency? The markets demand it. The economy demands it. Ronnie Sue and Dominic demand it. For market confidence.

ASMAN: Harvey, if we demand it of banks, why not FINRA or for that matter, why not the Fed? We have a lot of people in Congress saying everybody needs to open the books, everybody needs to be transparent?

PITT: Well I think there’s no question that we need far more transparency throughout the regulatory environment, both for those regulated and those doing the regulation. That, I think, is a very clear proposition, and one that I’m hopeful will be addressed in whatever new legislation comes about.

ASMAN: So we have to leave.

But, Harvey, does that mean you’re in favor of FINRA opening the books so we can find out if they invested in Madoff?

PITT: I’m in favor of there being far more transparency, permitting privacy concerns to allow certain information to be withheld, as long as somebody is overseeing what they’re doing.

I am thrilled that these issues which Sense on Cents has been focused on for the last 8 months are coming into the public light. That said, there remains plenty of work left to do to generate the truth, transparency, and integrity that our markets, economy, and country so badly need.

You can help by spreading this story amongst friends and colleagues. While the Amerivet complaint vs. FINRA will be addressed in the Washington D.C. courts, the fact is the issues revolving around FINRA and regulatory transparency need to be highlighted in the court of public opinion.

What do you think?

LD

If you like what you see and read here, please subscribe to Sense on Cents via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, or an RSS feed. Thanks for your support.

Related Sense on Cents Commentary

Madoff Victims Call Out FINRA (September 3, 2009)

Amerivet Complaint Against FINRA Alleges Madoff Investment (August 25, 2009)

How Courageous is Mary Schapiro? (June 4, 2009)

U.S. Attorney and SEC Investigating Lehman’s Auction Rate Securities Sales; They Should Also Investigate FINRA’s (May 21, 2009)

FINRA Is Supposed to Police the Market (April 29, 2009)

An Open Letter to the Board of FINRA Regarding Auction-Rate Securities

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 27th, 2009 3:17 PM |

To: The Board of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA);
FINRA Investment Committee;
FINRA Audit Committee

From: Larry Doyle, Sense on Cents

Re: Auction-Rate Securities

I am a longstanding Wall Street veteran, a private investor, an avid supporter of free and fair markets, and a financial blogger at my site, Sense on Cents.

I launched my website/blog earlier this year specifically to help people more fully understand the economy and the markets during these challenging times.

In my opinion, the greatest challenge facing our markets and our country at this time is the question of confidence and integrity in the system. Little surprise why the topic of financial regulatory reform is receiving so much attention.

Against that backdrop, I am heartened by recent increased legal action taken primarily by selected attorneys general in pursuing entities involved in the fraudulent marketing and distribution of Auction-Rate Securities. We could debate at length why and how the ARS market failed, but there is no doubt these securities, sold as cash surrogates, were distributed in a fraudulent fashion. Thousands of investors and approximately $165 billion in ARS remain frozen.

I view the ARS market as having three legs — issuers, investors, and distributors (both primary Wall Street banks/brokers and downstream entities). Who was situated at the epicenter of this debacle charged with protecting investors? The SEC and FINRA.

FINRA specifically occupied a position not only as a regulator but also as an ARS investor. Whether FINRA representatives want to believe it or not, any semblance of rational and prudent thought would determine that FINRA was conflicted as a result.

Having written extensively on this topic and engaged FINRA spokesperson Herb Perone on this issue, I call upon you, the members of FINRA’s Board, Investment Committee, and Audit Committee, to release all pertinent details involved with FINRA’s liquidation of their ARS position in 2007.

Why is this necessary? Very simply, in order to regain total confidence in the markets it is of paramount importance that there be complete transparency and integrity on behalf of the regulators. To that end, for the benefit of all issuers, investors, and distributors of ARS, I believe it is incumbent on you to release the following information regarding FINRA’s liquidation of ARS:

1. Date of sale

2. To whom or through whom did the liquidation occur?

3. At what price did FINRA sell their ARS?

4. Why did FINRA decide to liquidate the entire $647 million ARS at that time?

5. Did FINRA possess material non-public information at the time of liquidation and act upon it?

6. Given that FINRA is charged with protecting investors, and given its position in the financial industry, how and why did they not post an investor warning about the freezing and subsequent failure of the ARS market prior to its complete failure in early 2008? How many investors and how many dollars could have been protected in the process?

I issue this letter publicly hoping that others may also be able to utilize the information contained herein and generate the release of this information.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have never owned an Auction-Rate Security. I write merely as a private individual interested in helping the thousands of investors looking for a timely return of their capital.

I thank you.

Respectfully,

Larry Doyle
http://www.senseoncents.com/about/






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