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HomeARS Update April 2013: The Nightmare Continues
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 25th, 2013 8:43 AM |
Five plus years after the meltdown of the largest fraud ever perpetrated on Wall Street, and the nightmare that defines the world of auction-rate securities goes on.
While Wall Street, Washington, and the media would very much like to leave the pain encompassing the ARS market largely in the rear view mirror, for many individuals who still hold on to the hope that they may ultimately get repaid in full from these widely distributed “cash-surrogate” instruments, the pain and anxiety remain front and center.
I continue to hear regularly from many individual ARS holders.
Not that anybody needs further reason to know that individual investors on Wall Street are at an enormous disadvantage in the face of captured and corrupted regulators and institutions that possess more information, but a recent piece of data I unearthed while working on my upcoming book (think I might be able to get Mary Schapiro to come to a book signing and autograph some copies!!??) speaks volumes to this point. (more…)
Who’s Minding the Store at the SEC?
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 1st, 2012 6:33 AM |
The folks at the SEC could not possibly still be tuning in to porn, could they?
Do you think that any SEC lawyers are once again blowing the cover of whistleblowers?
Would we know if the SEC is complying with the Freedom of Information Act?
While many in Washington and America might think these issues begin and end at the desk of the SEC chair, Mary Schapiro, the simple fact is the real oversight of this organization falls under the purview of the SEC’s Inspector General. Really? Oh yeah!! How so? (more…)
Those Uncle Sam Failed, Violated, and Left Behind
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 3rd, 2012 8:31 AM |
They are going to forget about me.
I have heard that line and iterations thereof from too many of our fellow citizens. Uncle Sam in the personage of Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, Henry Paulson, Mary Schapiro, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and many others can talk about the actions they have taken and will take to save our economy and our nation; however, in the midst of their supposed efforts they have failed, violated, and left behind tens of thousands of our fellow citizens in their wake.
Of whom and to what do I refer? (more…)
The Integrity of the Game
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 22nd, 2012 5:31 AM |
The penalties handed out by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to the coaches and executives of the New Orleans Saints organization for the bounty program practiced down on the bayou were perhaps the stiffest in the history of the game.
Goodell has shown himself to be a no-nonsense individual cut from the mold of Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Goodell is clearly focused on protecting the sport, and knows that any program which promotes an intent to injure renders modern day football to little more than barbarism. (more…)
US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Standard Investment v FINRA
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 17th, 2012 4:54 PM |
In the fall of 2009, I was asked by some Washington based attorneys if I was aware of a case known as Standard Investment Chartered v FINRA. I informed them that I did not know the case.
These attorneys shared with me information that seemed to expose that the merger of two regulators to form Wall Street’s current SRO FINRA was predicated on a proxy statement that included misinformation. I was enormously intrigued and tracked the case closely, including paying a visit into the federal courthouse in New York to observe a hearing on this case.
The crux of the case was that executives of FINRA improperly represented information in the proxy statement used for a merger of the NASD and the regulatory arm of the NYSE. (more…)
Did Mary Schapiro Engage in a Fraud?
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 3rd, 2012 10:22 AM |
Will we learn in 2012 if Mary Schapiro, current chair of the SEC, and other then senior executives at the Wall Street self-regulatory organization, FINRA, engaged in a fraud?
The case addressing this question, Standard Chartered v FINRA, has been appealed to the highest court in our land.
As such, one might think that most Americans would care to learn if our nation’s top financial regulator did, in fact, engage in a fraud which had a monetary value of between $175-$350 MILLION plus. That’s right, $175-350 million plus!! Not exactly chicken feed.
Why hasn’t this case received more attention? (more…)
SEC’s Robert Khuzami: “All Individuals Will Be Held Accountable…”
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 18th, 2011 7:35 PM |
What do we think of the SEC’s attempt to pursue former Freddie and Fannie CEOs Richard Syron and Daniel Mudd?
Is this a fully legitimate pursuit of justice against these executives? Could there be more than a whiff of political motivation on the part of the current administration buried in this pursuit?
As The New York Times reports the other day, SEC Accuses Fannie and Freddie Ex-Chiefs of Deception:
On Friday, S.E.C. officials trumpeted their actions in the Fannie and Freddie case as part of a renewed effort to crack down on wrongdoing at the highest levels of Wall Street and corporate America……….. (more…)
Sense on Cents Calls on US Supreme Court to Hear Standard Chartered v. FINRA
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 6th, 2011 9:09 AM |
I first started writing about Wall Street’s not-for-profit self regulatory organization, aka the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in early 2009.
In late 2009, I first referenced Standard Chartered v. FINRA, the case in which the plaintiff alleges that FINRA and its senior executives — including current SEC Chair Mary Schapiro — lied both verbally and in writing in the merger which formed FINRA.
Why would Mary and her friends lie? (more…)
A Sad Tale of Wall Street’s Orphans
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 1st, 2011 7:56 PM |
A lead editorial the other day in the Wall Street Journal highlighted:
“Federal Judge Jed Rakoff’s rejection Monday of a $285 million settlement between Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission is playing in some circles as a great populist victory against Wall Street. But it looks to us more like a rebuke of the cozy relationship between regulators and the regulated that too often leaves justice as an orphan.
Justice as an orphan sounds eerily similar to the fact that “success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.”
Is there any greater failing in our nation than a lack of justice? I think not. (more…)
Judge Rakoff: “Truth is Confined to Secretive, Fearful Whispers”
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…)
