Posts Tagged ‘Auction Rate Securities scandal’
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 14th, 2014 6:40 PM |
I appreciate anybody who takes the time and makes the effort to read and review my book, In Bed with Wall Street.
That said, I deeply appreciate those who in reading my book really seem to “get it” and are then willing to lay it on the line in “delivering it” in their review. On that note, Mark Melin of ValueWalk goes to the front of the class.
Melin dives deeply into the material. I give him credit for reaching out to Wall Street’s self-regulator FINRA to get their take on some of my hard hitting charges detailed in the book. In regard to my long held assertion that FINRA engaged in insider trading in its liquidation of ~$650 million of auction-rate securities, a FINRA spokesperson commented to Melin: (more…)
Tags: ars market, Auction Rate Securities scandal, Book Accuses FINRA of Insider Trading, insider trading at FINRA, is Wall Street rigged, Larry Doyle In Bed with Wall Street, Mark Melin of ValueWalk, Michael Lewis, Michael Lewis just scratched the surface, Michael lewis just scratching the surface, rigging on Wall Street, Wall Street rig, Wall Street rigged
Posted in FINRA, General | 2 Comments »
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 January 17th, 2013 8:57 AM |
We are now less than one month away from the five year anniversary of what I believe is the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on Wall Street. Regular readers know I am referencing the ARS (auction-rate securities) tragic debacle. I have been remiss in not addressing this situation for more than a few months and apologize for that.
Some past holders may wonder, “Is the ARS pain ongoing?” Indeed it is. Tens of billions of ARS remain outstanding. Some individuals and institutions still trapped in the painful ARS predicament may wonder if anybody even still cares about their plight. We do. Not only investors, but ARS issuers as well were ensnared by the Wall Street ARS trap and continue to experience very real pain in the process.
I broach this topic once again thanks to a reader who shared the following story about a communications firm entangled in the ARS mess the other day: (more…)
Tags: ARS scandal, Auction Rate Securities scandal, auction rate securities Wall Street greatest fraud, calling all auction rate securities holders, Clear One Comunications ARS scandal, Raymond James auction rates, what is going on with ARS scandal
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General | 4 Comments »
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…)
Tags: ARS, ARS scandal, auction rate scam, Auction Rate Securities scandal, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, customers of MF Global, Henry Paulson, Joe Nocera, John Boehner, Jon Corzine, Madoff, Madoff victims, Madoff Victims Coalition, Mary Schapiro, MF Global customers, Nancy Pelosi, those Uncle Sam Failed Violated and Left Behind, Tim Geithner, Wall Street-Washington incest
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General, Madoff, MF Global, Mortgage Crisis | 3 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 August 2nd, 2011 8:17 AM |
Information is everything. The appropriate use of information can be particularly powerful if not explosive.
Whether in the canyons of Wall Street, the halls of Capitol Hill, or in the most distant regions of our great nation, the value and use of timely information is critical in determining the truth as to 1. what did people know 2. when did they know it, and 3. what did they do with it?
The legal process known as discovery is critical to elevating our Sense on Cents virtues of truth, transparency, and integrity. What is discovery? (more…)
Tags: anti-fraud violations, ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, auction-rate securities update august 2011, Brokerage May Buy Back Dormant Securities, Chinese wall at Merrill Lynch, did Merrill prop up the ARS market, FINRA and SEC ARS, FINRA arbitration Merrill Lynch ARS Maui, Frances Constable Merrill Lynch e-mail, Goodson Anderson Quinn & Stifel, legal process known as discovery, Maui County auction-rate case, Maui County Council Policy Committee, Maui News, Maui vs Merrill Lynch, Merrill Lynch sales of auction-rate securities, NASAA, no more 2k dinners at Cru, pre-trial litigation process, pursuing the truth, pursuit of the truth, SLARS Hawaii, what is discovery, when did ARS market begin to collapse, who is Joachim Cox, who is Riki Hokama
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General | 1 Comment »
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 26th, 2011 8:21 AM |
37 months and counting and still thousands of Americans holding untold billions of dollars in frozen auction-rate securities await the return of THEIR money.
The question of whether the injustice of all that went on in the ARS scandal might ever truly see the light of day seems to have long since been dismissed. Regrettably that fact would seem to mitigate a full understanding of the ARS mess and minimize the lessons that may otherwise have been learned by future generations. What a shame!!
Despite these realities, the fight goes on supported by the billions of reasons that may appear to be frozen in those outstanding ARS but are very much alive.
I have always maintained that the ARS market was the greatest scam ever perpetrated on Wall Street. What is new on the ARS front? (more…)
Tags: ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, Bill Halldin of Merrill Lynch and Company, caveat emptor, GAO, Government Accountability Office, jacob S. Frenkel of Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy and Ecker, James Cox of Duke University, Jonathan Levine of Girard Gibbs, Kevin Callahan, liquidity of auction rate securities, Morgan Keegan ARS decision, MSRB, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, propping auction rate securities auctions, Robert Khuzami, SEC Brief in ARS, SEC Brief in Auction-Rate Case may Help Investors Suing Banks, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro, SEC vs Merrill Lynch in ARS, secondary trading of ARS, secondary trading of auction rate securities, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, SIFMA, what is new on the ars front, what is new with ars, William Sullivan of Paul Hastings Janofsky and Walker in Los Angeles
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General | 10 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 5th, 2010 7:40 AM |
Morning in America!!!
Are auction-rate securities holders gaining the upper hand against Wall Street in the fight to gain full justice and restitution with penalties for the improper marketing and distribution of ARS? While 2009 brought many judicial and arbitration defeats for ARS holders, lately we witness a shift in the tide. Thank you to a reader of Sense on Cents for sharing that UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland) not only lost an ARS case, but the Swiss bank has to repay ten times the initial ARS investment. WOW!!
What happened here? Why such a large settlement? Let’s navigate as The Wall Street Journal reports, UBS To Pay $81 Million in Auction-Rate Case:
UBS AG has been ordered to pay 10 times the amount a Maryland marketer of cellphones originally invested in auction-rate securities, in another sign of the reckoning still dogging Wall Street for its role in investor losses during the meltdown. (more…)
Tags: Auction Rate Securities scandal, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, FINRA, Jacob Zamansky, Kajeet, Larry Doyle, LD, Randall Smith, Sense on Cents, UBS ARS case, UBS loses auction rate securities case, UBS to pay $81 million in Auction-Rate Case, Union Bank of Switzerland, Wall Street Journal
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General | 4 Comments »
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…)
Tags: ARPS fraud, ARS, Auction Rate Securities, Auction Rate Securities scandal, Citigroup auction-rate securities scandal, Citigroup Pete Thompson Scott Kami, Citigroups auction-rate bonds freeze $1 billion in hawaii cash, FINRA, fraud, Hawaii auction rate securities, hawaii cash strapped, hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, Karl Rhoads, Mary Schapiro Rick Ketchum, SEC, Wall Street
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, FINRA, General | 2 Comments »
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…)
Tags: Auction Rate Securities scandal, Blackrock's Larry Fink, Federal Reserve support for auction rate securities investors, FINRA auction rate securites, FINRA support for ARS investors, how does Wall street screw the little guy, Pimco's Bill Gross, Raymond James, screw the little guy, SEC support for Auction rate securites investors, support for auction rate securites investors, Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tom James, Tom James apologizes for auction rate securities, Tom james Apologizes for Auction Rate Securities Purchases in tampa Bay Business Journal, Tom James apology for ars, U.S. treasury support for auction rate securities investors, Wall Street distribution of auction rate securities
Posted in ARPS, ARS, Auction Rate Securities scandal, General | 13 Comments »