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HomeMadoff Ruling: More Reason Not to Trust Wall Street or Washington
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 1st, 2010 1:03 PM |
On the heels of my commentary this morning addressing why Harry Markopolos feels America’s citizens should not trust the government, we receive more fuel for the fire.
The timing of this release is truly uncanny:
MADOFF JUDGE’S RULING REDUCES PROTECTIONS AGAINST PONZI SCHEMES FOR ALL SECURITIES INVESTORS
Judge rules SIPC does not have to insure every account up to $500,000, shifts burden of Madoff losses to American taxpayer. (more…)
Madoff Investors Suing SIPC
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 24th, 2010 2:39 PM |
You can rest assured that the powers that be on Wall Street would just as soon have the Madoff saga over. The Madoff scam perpetrated on investors is an ugly reminder of the non-existent financial regulatory system during the better part of the last twenty years.
I also believe many in Washington also might like to see the Madoff saga quietly pass by. The failures of the SEC, FINRA, and SIPC in this greatest of scams are an ugly reminder of the Wall Street-Washington incest.
Well, while many of the incestuous partners would like to turn the page, there remains a lot of filth that still needs to be cleaned up and a lot of individuals and institutions that need to be held to account. (more…)
Kanjorski and Ackerman Undress the SEC and SIPC
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 15th, 2009 2:47 PM |
Having written about the massive regulatory failures on Wall Street for the better part of 2009, I am heartened by the House Finance Sub-Committee on Capital Markets hearing last week. The bell that tolled in this hearing deserves to ring loud, long, and clear across our great land. The regulatory and insurance failures on Wall Street deserve to be exposed far beyond Sense on Cents.
Rackets operate best in the dark. Well, let’s get that flashlight out again!
For those unaware, SIPC (the Securities Investor Protection Corporation) is an insurance fund in which member firms pay premiums to cover losses. From SIPC’s own website, we learn:
What SIPC Covers . . . What it Does Not
The cash and securities – such as stocks and bonds – held by a customer at a financially troubled brokerage firm are protected by SIPC.
Among the investments that are ineligible for SIPC protection are commodity futures contracts and currency, as well as investment contracts (such as limited partnerships) and fixed annuity contracts that are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933.
It is important to recognize that SIPC does not work the same way as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in terms of blanket protection of losses.
For this insurance coverage, SIPC charged its member firms an annual premium of $150 from 1996 until April 2009. That is no joke. Wall Street firms paid a token $150 a year to promote the idea that your investments were protected. While SIPC did have a $1 billion reserve fund, that was woefully insufficient to cover the losses incurred in the Madoff scam. Make no mistake, though, the SIPC annual premium of $150 should also be looked upon as a scam.
Think of it. Individuals pay far more for auto insurance than Goldman Sachs paid for investor insurance for over 12 years.
Are you getting increasingly pissed off? America should be extremely pissed off. The SIPC coverage has been a critical part of the Wall Street racket. (more…)
Will Wall Street Banks be Compelled to Compensate Madoff Investors?
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 15th, 2009 11:46 AM |
Will Congress hit the Wall Street banks with a one-time assessment in order to compensate Madoff investors? Why might that happen? Very simply because SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation) was woefully underfunded given the fact that SIPC member-firms, including all the large Wall Street banks, paid a token $150 (yes, that is not a misprint, a token $150) annual premium from 1996 until April 2009 for SIPC coverage.
Each and every investor in America should be livid at the insurance scam perpetrated by SIPC and its member firms, but especially by the largest firms taking the greatest risks!
I will address this insurance scam in a post later today, but for now I want to highlight an engagement between Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) and Stephen Harbeck, the head of SIPC that occurred last week during a hearing on securities investor protection reform.
This interaction should have received massive coverage by the mainstream media. Regrettably, but not surprisingly, it did not. Why? If it received the appropriate coverage, it would shine a laser beam on the incestuous nature of the relationship between Wall Street firms and its regulators (SEC and FINRA) and insurer (SIPC).
From the transcript of the hearing last week: (more…)
Helen Davis Chaitman Provides Congress with Sense on Cents
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 15th, 2009 6:53 AM |
Helen Davis Chaitman, esteemed and distinguished attorney with Phillips Nizer in New York City, was my guest on No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle on November 5th. We addressed the gross inequity embedded in the business practices of SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation). How gross? What inequity? The fact that SIPC member firms (i.e. every broker dealer and bank on Wall Street) paid a “whopping” $150 annual assessment from 1996-2009 in order to promote and accord protection for their investors.
$150 per year for Goldman Sachs? JP Morgan? Bank of America? Yes, for 13 years SIPC member firms paid annual assessments of only $150. Of all the travesties on Wall Street, this SIPC joke may be the biggest of them all.
Ms. Chaitman, who has worked diligently on behalf of the Madoff Coalition for Investor Protection on a pro bono basis, provided riveting details and dialogue during my interview. This past Wednesday, Ms. Chaitman did the same for the House Finance Sub-Committee on Capital markets chaired by Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA).
I strongly exhort people to realize that the Madoff scam is not merely a fraud strictly impacting Madoff investors. The failure of our financial regulators, the financial regulatory system, and SIPC impacts us all. The regulators, the regulatory system, and SIPC have failed all investors. Why? How?
The lack of confidence in our markets on behalf of investors remains pervasive. Helen Davis Chaitman provides a tremendous public service in highlighting the aformentioned failures. I encourage readers here at Sense on Cents to watch this 9-minute video clip of Ms. Chaitman’s testimony. She speaks for all of us.
LD
Press Release: Madoff Investors Accuse SIPC of Forcing Investors to Bail Out Wall Street
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 14th, 2009 2:07 PM |
Having interviewed noted attorney Helen Davis Chaitman on No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle on November 1st (a recording of that show can be heard here), I am compelled to share this press release. Investors need to fully understand and appreciate the critically important role that SIPC is supposed to fulfill and the fact that it has largely served at the behest of the industry much like its regulatory brethren at FINRA.
LD
MADOFF VICTIMS ACCUSE SIPC OF FORCING INVESTORS TO BAIL OUT WALL STREET
Group of Madoff victims files brief saying Securities Investment Protection Corp. was grossly under funded and is defaulting on its obligations to investors
New York, NY – Lawyers representing victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme filed papers in federal bankruptcy court Friday charging the Securities Investment Protection Commission (SIPC) with attempting to enrich Wall Street at the expense of customers of SEC-regulated broker/dealers. The brief argues that SIPC has withheld insurance money rightfully owed to Madoff investors by using an illegal definition of “net equity,” thereby depriving investors of the $500,000 in SIPC insurance which Wall Street is obligated to pay them.
“Just as American taxpayers were required to bail out Wall Street to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars after Wall Street recklessly brought the global economy to its knees, so to, Madoff’s destitute customers are being forced to bail out SIPC,” the brief reads. (more…)
No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle Welcomes Helen Davis Chaitman, Sunday Evening at 8pm EST
Posted by Larry Doyle on October 31st, 2009 3:49 PM |
UPDATE: This episode of NQR’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle has concluded. You can listen to a recording of the episode in its entirety by clicking the play button on the audio player provided below. Once the audio begins, you can advance or rewind to any portion of the episode by clicking at any point along the play bar. We did have some technical difficulties connecting with our guest at around the 12 minute mark of the show. You can listen up to that point, and then advance it to the 24 minute mark when Helen Davis Chaitman joins the program.
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Who truly protects the average American investor? Our financial regulators are licking their wounds and playing catch up from seemingly 20-plus years of being asleep at the wheel. Banks and brokers are fighting tooth and nail against instituting a fiduciary code of conduct. Why do more and more investors not trust Wall Street? Where should one turn to navigate this corner of our economic landscape?
Welcome to No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle as I welcome Helen Davis Chaitman this Sunday evening at 8pm EST. Helen Davis Chaitman is a prominent attorney and partner in the New York based law firm Phillips Nizer LLP. Her career spans a vast part of our economic landscape.
Helen Davis Chaitman is a nationally recognized litigator with a diverse trial practice in the areas of lender liability, bankruptcy, bank fraud, RICO, professional malpractice, trusts and estates, and white collar defense. In 1995, Ms. Chaitman was named one of the nation’s top ten litigators by the National Law Journal for a jury verdict she obtained in an accountants’ malpractice case. Ms. Chaitman is the author of The Law of Lender Liability (Warren, Gorham & Lamont 1990) which is periodically updated and, since 1987, has authored the monthly newsletter, The Lender Liability Law Report. In early 2009, Ms. Chaitman spearheaded the firm’s pro bono representation of investors in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. She has been an outspoken advocate for the victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and for the government failures which caused massive losses to innocent investors. (more…)
NoQuarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle Interviews Head of Bernard Madoff Victims Coalition, Sunday Night at 8PM
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 15th, 2009 5:04 PM |
UPDATE: The show has concluded, but you can listen to a recording in its entirety by clicking the Play button on the audio player below. Once the playback has started, you can forward or rewind to any portion of the show by clicking at any point along the play bar. My interview with Ronnie Sue Ambrosino was extremely interesting, touching upon elements of investor protection that concern us all. For your reference, I’d like to provide two important websites that my guest mentioned: Bernie Madoff Victims Coalition and an online petition to show a unified support for investors to receive fair and legal treatment by the Securities Investor Protection Corp (SIPC).
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Has our government ever failed us to the extent involved in the regulatory oversight connected to the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme? How could these failures have perpetuated for such an extended period? How are these failures and their impact on the victims being handled? Is insult being added to injury?
Can the victims possibly receive real justice in terms of restitution and retribution? Where did the system falter? How are the victims of this travesty being treated by the powers that be on Wall Street, Washington, and in the media?
I am thrilled to address all these issues on my weekly program, No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle, this Sunday evening August 16th from 8-9pm as I welcome Ronnie Sue Ambrosino, head of the Bernard Madoff Victims Coalition.
As a sneak preview, Ms. Ambrosino was interviewed by Charlie Rose on June 29th, the day Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Ms. Ambrosino appears in the video clip at the 3 minute, 5 second mark.
The issues I will address with Ms. Ambrosino run well beyond the immediate concerns of the Madoff victims. The integrity and transparency of our financial regulatory system and legal process remain very much in question.
Don’t miss this important discussion Sunday evening on NQR’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle.
LD
Related Sense on Cents Commentary:
Madoff Victim Makes Impassioned Plea (August 12, 2009)
SEC Complaint vs. Frank DiPascali, Jr. (August 13, 2009)
Is the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) a Mere Facade?
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 11th, 2009 4:55 PM |
What good is insurance if after the storm you do not get paid? What good is insurance if the premiums charged are so badly mispriced that they misrepresent and do not cover the embedded risks? Welcome to the world of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
Is SIPC a mere facade presented by the Wall Street titans?
Let’s get the take of those who recently relied upon SIPC to fulfill its obligations. To whom do I refer? The victims of the Madoff scam.
If these investors were not protected, then how are we to believe that other investors will be protected on a going forward basis?
Why do I make that statement? None other than current head of the SEC Mary Schapiro addressed this topic in recent Congressional testimony. In a press release put out by Madoff victims, Schapiro admitted that SIPC did not have sufficient funds to pay all of the Madoff claims.
Who funds SIPC? The Wall Street banks. Yes, those banks that have been printing massive revenues and believe that they are back to ‘business as usual.’ Why aren’t the premiums immediately increased on these institutions to properly compensate Madoff victims?
To the extent that certain Madoff investors were aware of the Ponzi scam, obviously they should not receive restitution. I have to believe that number is in the distinct minority.
Given the general lack of confidence in our financial regulators,(the SEC and FINRA) would Congress have the heart and courage to take on the financial behemoths on Wall Street in an attempt to protect the investing public?
These questions and issues lie at the core of badly needed financial regulatory reform. Yes, that reform which seems to be on the back burner now that the markets have rebounded and Wall Street is printing money once again.
Make no mistake, though, that pot is still boiling and these questions need to be fully addressed and answered to the public’s satisfaction.
For a deeper understanding of these questions from the perspectives of the victims of the Madoff scam, please read this recent press release from the Bernard Madoff Victims Coalition. Click on the image below to access a PDF of the full 2-page press release. Let me know what you think.
LD
