Archive for the ‘John Busacca’
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Know when to hold ‘em, Know when to fold “em
Risk vs Reward when dealing with FINRA We have seen yet another increase in the ‘Death Penalty” being issued by FINRA to firms across the county for a variety of reasons ranging from failure to supervise to failure to do anything. How did we get to this point whereby almost all actions appear to […]
The end of Low Priced Stocks?
Caution: Low Priced Securities! For the last decade or so we have advised firms repeatedly that it’s no longer a matter of WILL Clearing firms and FINRA eliminate low priced physical stock certificates being deposited but a matter of WHEN they will end it. In the last five to seven years it seems that one […]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY “POPS”
So my Dad would have been 76 today. I wish I could say its been getting better since he left us a few years ago, But that’s just not the case. Its tough to be a father and you really can’t take the proper time to grieve because you have to take care of your […]
What is a Broker Dealer Worth?
The answer is that you may NEVER find out….We continue to lose Members on a regular basis who simply can’t make it and either just sell their Broker Dealer for a tiny amount of money as a shell or file for withdrawal and just give up. We need a real Member who understands the […]
Did Tim Cook Just Do That?
APPLE CEO IN SOME RISKY TERRITORY Yesterday was a tense day on Wall Street. The Asian stock markets had just collapsed and US exchanges were poised for some of the biggest declines in years. The futures market indicated that a collapse of at least 600 points for the dow jones industrial average. As I […]
A Head Scratching FINRA Verdict
Recently the National Adjudicatory Council (NAC)has been raising eyebrows with a variety of new rules, sanction guidelines and some decisions that are quite confusing to say the least. Recently we wrote ‘Broker Beware” in which the NAC will now be recommending a lifetime bar for unsuitable trading and other infractions. Last month the NAC issued a decision […]
FINRA needs to get out of FRAUD business
Recently we discussed in ‘Broker Beware” the new NAC guidelines that call for a lifetime bar for unsuitability and for cases involving fraud. While we think this can lead to an influx of trial lawyers attacking small firms with over blown claims of unsuitability in order to get them to settle quickly, we believe that […]
Broker Beware !
New Enforcement Sanctions from NAC Last week the FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council (NAC) released a statement that increases dramatically the sanctions on individuals found guilty of fraud and unsuitability. In the statement NAC said: The revised Sanction Guidelines now advise FINRA adjudicators to strongly consider barring an individual respondent, or expelling a firm, for cases involving fraud. […]
ACTUAL PHONE CALLS TO FINRA RELEASED
FINRA recently launched with much fanfare its toll free senior hot line. WASHINGTON—The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has launched the toll-free FINRA Securities Helpline for SeniorsTM to provide older investors with a supportive place to get assistance from knowledgeable FINRA staff related to concerns they have with their brokerage accounts and investments. Senior […]
Republican “To Do” List
Victory last night offers promise and potholes, especially to Broker Dealers As I watched the results from the election pour in last night from across the country, I had this sudden wave of Déjà vu sweep over me. For some reason I have experienced this same euphoria and reaction to a political landslide before but […]
Expungement and Amnesty
Expungement of records being curtailed The SEC recently approved FINRA rule 2081 which severely limits the expungement of broker records in making settlements with customers. The new rule will no longer allow an expungement of the customer complaint from the broker’s record as a condition for settlement. On the surface this would appear […]
FINRA Launches Retrospective Rule Review
FINRA recently announced that they will begin conducting a “look back” at their current rules to determine if the rules are meeting their intended objectives. “FINRA believes it is important to look back at its significant rule makings to determine whether those rules and rule sets are meeting their intended investor-protection objectives by reasonably efficient means,” said Robert […]
A World Governed by FINRA
How would other industries would handle playing in a brokers’ world ? Over the years at conferences and cocktail parties I often hear Brokers and BD owners lament about the restrictions placed on them compared to other industries. Indeed it is a very regulated world in the securities industry and the amount of rules, regulations, reports, […]
The Lost Boys
Is soccer mom or Washington to blame for a lost generation? The stock market roared approval of the fed decision to reduce fiscal stimulus from a whopping 85 Billion per month to a still whopping 75 billion per month. Wall Street loves low interest rates and borrowing money for free so they can play […]
SIPA Member Robert Keenan Wins Board Seat!
FINRA announced yesterday that Robert Keenan, owner of St. Bernard Financial and a long time SIPA member has won the small firm seat on the Board of Governors. Keenan defeated fellow SIPA member and current board member Jed Bandes in a close election. We are proud of the efforts put into this important election and […]
SMALL FIRM RACE PRESENTS OPPORTUNITY
Make your voice heard! The race for the small firm seat is underway and all three candidates are busy asking members for your vote. Sitting governor Jed Bandes is locked in what appears to be a tight race with David Sobel , the head of the Small Firms Advisory Board and newcomer Robert Keenan of […]
