Archive for the ‘Blogs By Author’
Wake up America!
II know for many this has been a trying time and we are truly sorry if you or a loved one has been affected. However, at some time we all have to stop being snowflakes and stop curling up like children being grounded. We are doing things today that have unintended consequences that nobody has thought about.
Demand for Firms Could Increase
Puzzling SEC enforcement action The Securities and Exchange Commission recently brought an action against John Fierro and his company JDF Capital(JDF) for violations of…..rule 144? We have read the release, we have consulted with known securities lawyers and I can safely say we are not alone in trying to figure out why this action was […]
Caveat Emptor
Dangerous Move by FINRA FINRA has done a relatively good job of providing members with access and guidance to the complex world or regulations we cope with. From guidance on Cyber, Crypto and Reporting, they have provided more guidance than at any time in the last fifteen years. In the 1990’s if you had a […]
Are commissions really the problem?
For a long time the SIPA has wondered why there is an obsession with the amount of money a broker earns on any transaction. The 5% “Guideline” that is the holy grail of rules even though it is considered a guideline is outdated and not reasonable in this day and age of compliance and regulatory […]
The Communist Revolution Coming to Wall Street?
Brokers better beware of the drum beat The past two years has seen a return to somewhat normal regulations on Wall Street as Donald Trump has lifted and or modified many of the burdensome regulations strangling capital formation for much of the last 10 years. The market has responded with robust earnings, record unemployment and […]
Government proves AML and SAR’s are worthless
Why burden brokerage firms? For years we have questioned why the federal government relies on brokerage firms to do a laundry list of cartwheels and hoop jumping to fight potential terrorism. September 11th 2001 was 17 years ago and every month FINRA and the SEC take dramatic and draconian action against firms for not seeing […]
NIBA and SIPA join forces!
National Investment Banking Association (NIBA) and The Securities Industry Professional Association (SIPA) have agreed to join forces to work on behalf of small broker dealers and Registered Representatives to advance more thoughtful regulation that advances business and capital formation while protecting investors in a more efficient manner. Recently SIPA and NIBA were proud to support […]
The Establishment and Trump
FINRA and the Small Firm Advisory Board Recently Chip Jones of FINRA made a podcast with Wendy Lanton who is head of the Small Firm Advisory Committee. Please click here to watch this interview For years now mass media, political pundits and people on the left and right scratch their head and cannot figure out […]
A call for action.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support during the most recent election for the Small Firm seat on the FINRA Board of Governors. I was thrilled and extremely honored to receive the phone call this week from Robert Cook/FINRA telling me that I won. I look forward to working […]
How many board members does it take to screw in a light bulb?
24 caret board members get’s expensive The recent election of Paige Pierce to the FINRA board had us doing some head scratching. While we acknowledge the small firm representation and large firm representation on the board of governors, is it too much for members to ask for a scale back on the sheer number? Currently, […]
SIPA Member Paige Pierce Wins FINRA Board Seat
Is it time for optimism for small firms? FINRA recently announced that Paige Pierce has won a seat on the FINRA board of governors to represent the roughly 3000 small firms that are still left. The SIPA has supported her in her past elections for the NAC and the board and we were proud to […]
Facebook vs. FINRA
Social Media is the fall guy for all the other spy games On a near weekly basis we are subjected to the endless cries from Congress about the invasion of rights on American citizens by the social media and search engine giants of silicon valley. Millions have recently begun closing their Twitter and Facebook accounts […]
FINRA Double Dipping
FINRA has a curious punishment policy With a heat wave covering much of the country, I am reminded of the Ice cream shops and trucks that all the neighborhood kids ran to in order to get the coldest and best ice cream. We had one shop that had the specialty of doing a double dip […]
Papa John Mob Hit
Where is the SEC? As the fallout from Papa John’s founder and former CEO continue to reverberate, we think it’s time to take a closer look at what exactly has happened. As most of you know, John Schnatter aka “Papa John”, was recently booted from the company in a highly publicized dismissal that basically was […]
PCAOB RELIEF FINALLY HERE?
Let Paige Pierce finish the job! To my Small Firm colleagues, I would like to take this opportunity to let everyone know that I have thrown my hat into the ring for the FINRA Board and I would really appreciate your support in getting my name on the ballot. To earn my spot on the […]
The Godfather meets The Sting
Was Hillary Clinton an unwitting pawn? If you are an ardent follower of The SIPA, you know that our basic principles for surviving Life, Wall Street and Regulation are to: 1) Follow the Money 2) Use common sense 3) Every life lesson or parallel can be found in the movie ‘The Godfather” For over 10 […]
Supreme Court Tackles Constitutional Limits of SEC
FINRA could be next if SCOTUS rules as expected The SCOTUS is hearing a case right now that may change the way the SEC and possibly FINRA have been conducting business for many years now. The SEC has used Administrative Law Judges (ALJ’s) for some time to hear cases and appeals regarding SEC enforcement. These […]
TWO TIER JUSTICE SYSTEM
FBI and FINRA suffer from the same problem Former FBI director James Comey has spent the last year making conflicting if not hypocritical statements about everything from Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server to Trump’s alleged Russian collusion. He literally has become a pathetic looking sap of the political parties and the press as he flips […]
BROKER BEWARE !
FINRA/SEC WATCHING TRUMP CAREFULLY The recent raid of Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s offices should have every broker and owner of a brokerage firm trembling today. When news broke of this on Monday, our first thought was this is an outrageous and unconstitutional act that puts us all in uncharted waters. Attorney client privilege (ACP) appeared […]
TRUMP TAKES ON AMAZON?
Securities Regulation Suffers The SIPA has been rather obvious in its support of President Trump both before and after the election. Not to gloat but we did correctly predict in 2015 what everybody thought was impossible and correctly called the press and democratic/republican meltdown. Click here so we can gloat! Donald Trump vs Peter Pan […]
Lessons from Parkland
Making laws that don’t matter The recent horrifying events in Florida have caused many to become unhinged in their rush to prevent this sort of tragedy from happening again. Admittedly, as a father of a high school teen, I do not know how I would react if faced with the same horrific event. The media […]
Are You Not Entertained?
If Americans only knew In the famous movie “Gladiator”, the young and insane new Caesar named Commodus has a myriad of problems stemming from a failing economy, years of war and a weird crush on his sister. As the members of the senate begin to press him for solutions, he soon realizes he is way […]
Justice Is Truly Blind
We have been outspoken about the FINRA Arbitration and Hearing system for many years now. However, despite our constant chirping in this matter we continue to wonder if FINRA is upholding Justice or are they just plain blind? Case and point: FINRA Hearing Panel Bars Broker for Defrauding Elderly, Blind Customer WASHINGTON — The Financial […]
Small Firm Committees : a waste of members money
Is it really worth it? After years of fighting for small members rights, we are beginning to question whether its worth it financially to continue with any of these elections nationwide. The Financial Industry Association (FIA) and later the SIPA , along with others like attorney and small firm advocate, Bill Singer of Broke and […]
THE REAL HACKING OF THE 2016ELECTION
How Wall Street Tried to Influence the 2016 Election The 2016 election was possibly the greatest election upset in the history of U.S. politics. Donald Trump was a novice, first time candidate who had never even been elected dog catcher but here he was on the big stage taking out one by one, the biggest […]
EBAY and ISIS
EBAY and ISIS The US Government has uncovered a global scam in which members of the barbaric terror group ISIS were using EBAY to launder money and send cash to foreign operatives. In this scam, a terrorist with an EBAY account would take pictures of fictitious items, offer them up for bid or purchase […]
The Misunderstood Male
Understanding Finances and Women? As I journey through this incredible life I have been blessed with, I have learned so many amazing things. After 51 years I can honestly say I learn something new each and every day about myself, others and the world we live in. As a person in the financial world, it’s […]
ELECTION TIME AGAIN
Make your voice heard! It’s that time again when owners of Broker Dealers get slammed with phone calls, emails and faxes asking for their vote. While his can be a little annoying at time we urge you to remember that this is the right we fought for years ago. There was once a […]
WIRE TAPS, LEAKS, SURVEILLANCE AND MUSLIM BANS
FINRA members are shaking their heads at America. As a long time member of the Financial Industry with over 25 years of battle scars under my belt, it never ceases to amaze me how clueless the majority of the people are in this country to what is actually occurring. I often talk to my fellow […]
TRIPLE PLAY
Puzzling moves by the Democrat party One of the rarest feats in all of sports is the triple play in baseball. Despite the fact that around 250,000 baseball games have been played over the last 140 years, the ‘triple play’ has occurred only 709 times in that span or roughly every 350 games played. It’s […]
Will Trump Change Regulation on Wall Street?
A chance for regulatory reform in the future Now that the Trump hysteria has settled down and the ‘snowflakes’ have stopped protesting in the streets and the mass media has finally lifted their collective jaws off the carpet, it’s time to look at some of the proposals that Trump has made that could impact our […]
A guy walks into a bar and….
The beginning of many great jokes always starts off with the proverbial “Guy walking into a bar and orders a drink.” This month we thought we would analyze a scenario from three different perspectives and ask from three different perspectives why some are regulated and others fall through the cracks. An 18 year old […]
Wells Fargo: Crime Does Pay
We have been monitoring closely the events of the last few months and it appears that rules and laws are in place but are often ignored or enforcement is very selective. Small brokerage firms in particular have seen their compliance cost and burden soar due to nonstop rule making that continually requires yet […]
WiKi Leaks and FINRA/SEC
Will the inevitable happen sooner or later? Wiki Leaks and its founder Julian Assange have spent the better part of three years tormenting the most powerful country and people in the world. From Hillary Clinton to the NSA, they have been brazen in their attack and release of previously classified emails on a variety of […]
FEELING THE BERN OR GETTING BURNED?
Sanders might be guilty of a Pump and Dump The recent announcement that the Democratic National Convention was a rigged race from the moment it started comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed the Clinton’s over the last three decades. Wiki Leaks released over 20,000 emails in which the head of the DNC […]
The Insanity Must End!
Time to Stop Attacking Brokerage Firms Americans have witnessed firsthand the acts of terror here in our homeland and abroad in Europe. We are constantly reminded to stay vigilant and to make sure we report everything we see that we deem suspicious. Despite this constant reminder from government officials, we have seen time and again […]
FINRA Model May Not Be Sustainable
FINRA has recently released its annual audited financials and as an organization, it’s not a pretty trend and one has to wonder if big changes need to be contemplated now rather than later. While the Accountants at FINRA have tried desperately to squeeze out some sort of profit for FINRA for many years now, it’s […]
BREXIT OR SAXSIT?
For those of you who are loyal readers of the SIPA, you already know that basically all roads lead back to the Wall Street cartel that basically controls the American way of life. From Congress to the White house, nothing gets done, passed or enacted unless a blessing from the real Godfather is granted. […]
Anti Money Laundering Follies
Is it time to stop the charade? The recent horrific attacks in my hometown of Orlando served as a reminder of how vulnerable we really are. Whether it’s flying on a plane, going to a theme park or taking mass transit, we are all vulnerable to Islamic terrorist attacks. Sure, there are things we can […]
The City Beautiful
ORLANDO STRONG! As a longtime resident of Orlando, I have grown to love the place they call “The City Beautiful”. For many years I too labored under the false idea that Orlando was the city of Mickey Mouse and that the only thing to do was go to amusement parks. In 2000 I took a […]
World Banks on Fire!
Why regulators keep looking the other way as banks continue to set fires The world banking system continues to be a series of near misses and impending disasters time and time again despite multiple close calls. In “Man on Fire” we chronicled a young fool who continually played with fire and it almost cost him […]
Man on Fire
Mistakes of the past tend to get repeated (Part I of a II Part story) I was recently chirping back and forth with former classmates on Facebook and even in that sentence I reveal how out of touch I am with today’s digital world. Chirping is for Twitter and Facing is for Booking, […]
Silence of the Lambs
The Fed’s Wall Street Obsession is Killing American Capitalism For nearly 20 years now, we have all sat idly by, watching the Federal Reserve obsess over the stock market like Clarice in Silence of the Lambs obsessed over Hannibal. It is high time the Congress of this United States got together and limited the Fed […]
WHAT IF FINRA REGULATED WASHINGTON?
Disciplinary and other FINRA actions January 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton (Crd # 098765) was fined $100,000 and prohibited from associating in any capacity for a period of 2 years for not complying with e-mail archiving rules. Ms. Clinton failed to properly store, maintain and archive her emails in a non editable format that is on […]
The Wizard of Fed Oz
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain As we watch yet again the confusing signals of the stock market and the actions of the Fed Reserve, I can’t help but think of the classic movie the Wizard of Oz. The last 8 years have certainly been the most bizarre and confounding mix of […]
FINRA firing expensive bullets into Zombies
Time for a FINRA reevaluation of importance Each month I can’t wait to study the monthly disciplinary actions on FINRA’s web site for two reasons: First, what sort of idiotic thing did somebody try to pull and Secondly and more importantly, who do I know on the list? After 20 plus years in the […]
The Year that was 2015
Happy New Year? It never ceases to amaze me how we become so sentimental on December 31st each year but by January 2nd we are back to our grind of running around, shopping , working, stressing and losing our patience with each other. All day today and tomorrow we will greet everybody we encounter with […]
DONALD TRUMP vs. PETER PAN AND THE LOST BOYS
Why the Donald is upsetting Wall Street and Washington In the famous novel/movie ‘Peter Pan”, Peter leads a group of miscreant orphans that live in “Never Never Land” and they never grow up and they never change. On a daily basis they have staged fights with the local Native Indians on the island and some […]
Accredited or not?
THE APPLICABILITY OF THE “ACCREDITED INVESTOR” DEFINITION AS AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE Because there appears to be some confusion in the broker community about the applicability of the “accredited investor” definition to the defense of customer securities arbitration proceedings, I offer this perspective. The accredited investor definition is well-known, but for the reader’s convenience I […]
Who is the real criminal here?
Short Sale Rules being ignored On December 17th 2015 the SEC announced formal charges against Martin Shkreli and his Lawyer for committing Securities fraud, embezzling money from his hedge fund and a variety of other charges. The SEC also said he made misrepresentations to his ‘Executing Broker Dealer” regarding the location of stock he was […]
