The SIPA

New series brings long overdue exposure to Wall Street problems   Noted securities attorney, blogger, SIPA friend and Forbes contributor Bill Singer has recently launched a new interview series in conjunction with Reuters news that is tackling problems often swept under the rug or never mentioned by todays media..  Over the years Bill has been a [...]

 Last month, FINRA reported two unrelated settlements of disciplinary actions against member firms noting its imposition of lower fines after taking into consideration, among other things, each firm’s limited revenues and financial resources.  Indeed, FINRA reported 13 similar settlements in 2012.  Back in 2006, NASD modified the General Principles Applicable to All Sanction Determinations portion [...]

Its time to protect the reps from theft  On a monthly basis it seems we read another story about how the owner of a B/D shut his doors, filed a BD withdrawal and then decided to keep last month’s entire production and not pay out their brokers.  In a recent case a Firm owner from [...]

How FINRA and Merrill Lynch now define theft   Every month I peruse the monthly disciplinary actions for two reasons. First to see what the trend of actions currently is and secondly to see if I know any of the firms or people who are being named.  This month was no different but one case in [...]

Market cap losses now exceed over 50 billion  A little less then two months ago we wrote a story known as “ FACEBOOK FOLLIES” and openly criticized the impending public offering and wondered why this huge scam was being allowed to be perpetuated on the American public.  Here we are two months later and the [...]

A small firm seat on FINRA’s Board of Governors will be up for election soon and the petition process has begun.  The nominating committee chose to nominate W. Dennis Ferguon for the mid sized seat and some guy named Seth Waugh of Deustche Bank.  We have no idea who Seth is but we have known [...]

A Significant loss stirs the membership Recently FINRA announced to members a proposal for increased fees as well as a ‘significant loss’ for fiscal year 2011.  For many years FINRA has largely operated behind the wizard of Oz curtains and has told members what they felt they needed to hear rather then open the curtains [...]

Mortgage crisis hits home As the country’s mortgage crisis spirals out of control and thousands upon thousands of homeowners walk away from their under water home, I can’t help but wonder if secretly the 600,000 stockbrokers are quietly smiling inside as the rest of America gets a taste of what its like to be a [...]

I wanted to thank you for the support that you have shown the team of Ken, Joel and Jed. What the Members did was unprecedented! Please sign the attached petition so that the team can continue to be informed voices on the Board of Governors. Ken’s Petition for the Board of Governors United we stand! All the best, [...]

Given the fact that our highly regulated brokerage industry caused the collapse of the free markets and our economy, I don’t think we are in a position to ask that others fall under our regulation. I’m not sure we should be worrying about more Madoff scams when in fact FINRA dropped the ball on both Madoff and Sanford as well as a dozen others.

The Republicans swooped into office and now everyone is expecting huge change in Washington yet your first evidence of more of the same was the speech by minority leader John Boehner on election night. Lets be realistic, this race was fueled by the phenomenal success of the Tea Party and they are the ones who energized the campaign, yet once victory was secured in comes a 21 year congressmen with a nice suit, overly tanned and full or pats on his back when in fact he offered little or no support to tea party candidates who were running under the Republican ticket.

We can only do so much here and we think its important to let the candidates know how you feel instead of just beating us up. We are here to help the small firms and brokers out there and unlike other group sout there we believe in accountability and if our guys aren't living up to their word then we will find others that will.

On the surface this seems reasonable to an untrained ear, however when the top ten employees are making over a million a year in base salary without any limits on their capacity to earn more, doesn’t this affect their ability to regulate as well?

The message sent to Wall Streets elite firms is that if you commit securities fraud you may have to use your debit card to pay the fine and do not worry about jail time as long as you sing like a canary after your caught. Poor ‘Snooki” apparently takes her Italian heritage seriously and decided not to betray her family on Jersey Shore. Too bad she didn’t have info on Joey taking steroids to get better abs. The best part is the judge in the case lambasting Snookie.

The recent FINRA Board election was nothing less then astounding considering the fact that the SIPA members faced not only strong challenges by well known FINRA nominees but by habitual board candidates that appeared to try and dilute the dissident vote as a favor for FINRA. Much to our surprise though, the members and supporters came out in droves and quite frankly the margin of victory was nothing short of astonishing.

Do you trust FINRA? It’s a simple yes or no answer that is at the heart of this election. Do you believe FINRA has YOUR best interests in mind or do they cater to a certain segment of Firms? If you believe that FINRA has shown itself to be completely trust worthy, then by all means vote for their handpicked candidates.

Over 100 Million dollars of YOUR money was paid out to the top executives of FINRA over the last four years, yet this organization told you that the IRS would only allow a payment of $35,000 to you. While you are fighting for survival, the compensation paid to these people at FINRA has swelled to proportions that would make John Thain of Merrill Lynch fame blush.

Let’s take a look at 2 brokers in 2 different offices both looking at British Petroleum for their customers for two different reasons. The first broker believes the spill is overblown and that with 64 billion in net profits the previous year and a dividend yield now approaching 9% it’s certainly worth a 10,000 share investment. The second broker believes the worst is yet to come and thinks BP could go bankrupt from this massive oil spill so he decides to take advantage for his customer who favors aggressive investing and he wants to go short 10,000 shares of BP.

As I read the SEC press release on Friday charging Goldman with fraud I couldn’t help but laugh and wonder if they contacted Mario Puzo and asked for advice on how to get the swirling controversy around them to subside. The fraud charges are comical at best due to the fact that one person from Goldman was named in the SEC indictment.

This is either the biggest farce or the most ingenious way to bilk and abuse investors and then obtain help from FINRA in making it impossible to get redemption. It is our humble opinion that investors who were out 50 million would give anything to get a $25 million settlement right now, yet that chance has come and gone.

A judge who finally gets it right NEW YORK – A federal judge on Monday rejected a $33 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America Corp. over bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff called the proposed consent judgment "inadequate." Rakoff wrote in an opinion that the $33 million settlement was a "trivial penalty for a false statement that materially infected a multi-billion-dollar merger."

Previously, we here at The SIPA have questioned the investment losses of FINRA and wondered out loud if they may have invested in Madoff….well we could be about to find out.  A lawsuit has been filed against FINRA by a member firm that alleges conflict of interest as well as demands the books of FINRA [...]

Wasting Away Again In Regulatorville… Another day, another new Regulator or Czar appointed by the government.  The latest creation is the new and improved super regulator that will over see the SEC and FINRA as well as the institutions themselves.  Before we get into this latest and greatest Regulatory overhaul, I think is important to [...]

How to tell when the real Bottom has occurred Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, AIG, Washington Mutual and Wachovia Failing, TARP programs, 4500 point Dow Drop, Housing Crash, Credit Crunch, Layoffs, Foreclosures, more Layoffs, Credit Crunch, More TARP money, Bankrupt Automakers, Government Takeovers, Pick a Ponzi, Bernie Madoff, Sanford, Harbor private funds, Wall Street Bonuses, 3 [...]

Today the Treasury Secretary began outlining his vision of a new Regulatory structure to replace the old one. This new system will save us all from another catastrophic meltdown in our financial system and make sure corruption and greed is caught early on. The SIPA response? Yadee Yadee Yadee… With all due respect, why create [...]

CYA In These Crazy Times As one of the leading voices of Registered Reps and their rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of higher returns, The SIPA has had an out pouring of e-mails and phone calls from Individual registered Representatives who are now being made the brunt of this cruel Bail-out Blarney.  As [...]

Sweeping The Scene Clean of Madoff’s Victim’s Blood Bernie Madoff plead guilty to 11 counts of fraud yesterday in Manhattan. While acknowledging that we are not Crime Scene investigators in New York, Vegas or Miami, the SIPA is shocked at the apparent cover up in the whole Madoff mess.  Although I’m no genius, I do consider myself [...]

How To Insult The American Public With A Smile On Your Face Today the SEC Chairman Christopher proclaimed that “ The SEC Failed to Investigate and Probe Madoff”.  (Click here to read story). While this might sound to some of you as a small act of contrition and public acknowledgement of his agency’s failings, this [...]

Why Madoff will not be an isolated case Over a year ago we questioned whether there was sufficient regulation of the Hedge Fund industry (click here to read).  In light of the Madoff Meltdown the important question brokers must be asking themselves now is not IF more regulation is necessary, but should one remove one’s clients’ [...]

In several articles earlier this year, we broached the unthinkable: that the End Of FINRA was potentially at hand. Since then, we have seen much in the way of de-facto re-organization, with the Bulge Bracket firms – such as they still exist – coming under direct control of the Treasury. Ironically, what this means is [...]

The cost of corruption by our Government and the prospects for the future. On September 29th 2008 Citibank announced they were buying Wachovia Bank for a whopping $1.00 and that the Federal Government (FDIC) would provide them with up to 300 BILLION in bad debt protection. (cnn article here) The announcement caught this writer by [...]

Over a year ago many of you who receive the BDExchange newsletter may recall I speculated that 3 of the 5 top firms on the street were underwater and even went so far as to say that I truly Believe Bear Stearns and Citibank may in fact be under water.  In November of 2007 I [...]

On November 15, leaders of 20 nations will convene to create a framework for stabilizing and rebuilding the world financial markets. The meeting is being called Bretton Woods II, after the historic meeting that set the stage for dollar hegemony after WWII. While the meeting is set to review and determine such things as the [...]

Breaking News: For Immediate Release  GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING LEGISLATION TO BAN ALL SELLING OF STOCKS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE:  The Federal government has announced plans to prohibit individuals and institutions from selling their stock until further notice.  “This ban on selling stocks and only allowing buy orders should result in a higher stock market by years end” [...]

In the midst of perhaps the greatest collapse in Wall Street history, FINRA is hard at work not protecting American Investors across the country, but instead is working behind the scenes to once again consolidate even more power away from small firms and place it in the hands of a few.  The SEC is currently [...]

Now is the time to act if you’re a Brokerage firm or Financial professional in America. We would like to hear your thoughts and opinions and present them to the House Banking Committee. Wall Street’s elite firms have run aground and now the Federal Government wants to bail them out. For many years, many have [...]