BrokeAndBroker.com Blog by Bill Singer WEEK IN REVIEW

UPDATE: Federal Appeals Court Reverses Goldman Sachs Arbitration

This is an UPDATE with revisions of "Federal Court Slams FINRA For Unqualified Lawyer Arbitrator" (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, August 7, 2013). On September 29, 2015, the United States Court Of Appeals For The Third Circuit reversed the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Notwithstanding the judicial about-face, where we end still leaves both parties and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority with lots of egg on their faces. No one is walking away from this sordid mess with anything to brag about. If this is the state of arbitration on Wall Street, it's not a particularly flattering picture. READ

Bond Trader Barred For Using Can't Lose Strategy

Sometimes you just can't win . . . or, perhaps for the purpose of today's BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, I should say sometimes you just can't lose. I mean, go figure, FINRA bars some poor bond trader just because the guy came up with a system that ensured profits for his trades. Okay, sure, his system also ensured off-setting losses for his firm's trades but, after all is said and done, ya can't make everyone happy all the time, right? READ

SEC Rejects Appeal By Failed Buyer Of FINRA Broker Dealer

Few things are more frustrating for lawyers and their FINRA-member-firm clients than the self-regulatory organization's Continuing Membership Application ("CMA") process. The CMA is a frequent source of aggravation for those looking to sell/buy an existing brokerage firm or to expand that business. The source of discontent is the occurrence of what many industry participants deem unnecessary delays in processing their applications.  The SEC just rejected an appeal of a dispute involving a CMA. READ

Split In The Circuits Widens As Jarkesy Challenges SEC

It hasn't been a particularly good year for the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") as its Administrative Proceedings ("APs") have come under attack by respondents citing bias and lack of due process. Although many pundits expected that such appeals would founder upon the historic disinclination of federal courts to substitute their judgment for that of the federal securities regulator, some courts have stayed proceedings and noted concerns about the fairness of the SEC's in-house process. The other day, the SEC dodged a bullet but a split in the Circuits is appearing. READ

Federal Appeals Court Calls Whistleblower Case Quite Silly

Usually, Opinions from the United States Courts of Appeals are staid undertakings. More prosaic than prose. Every so often, however, the judges dip their pens in poison ink and we are confronted with harsh and biting rebukes. In a recent federal whistleblower case involving former Federal Reserve Bank of New York ("FRBNY") Senior Bank Examiner Carmen Segarra, the United States Court of the Appeals for the Second Circuit ("2Cir") affirmed the dismissal of her case by the Southern District of New York. Carmen M. Segarra, Plaintiff-Appellant, v.Federal Reserve Bank of N.Y., Michael Silva, Michael Koh, and Johnathon Kim, Defendants-Appellees, (Opinion, 2Cir, 14‐1714, September 23, 2015). READ

EMPLOYMENT TUESDAY At BrokeAndBroker.Com

UPDATE: Polygraph Expert Says It Ain't Lying. It's Nervousness

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