An irreverent Wall Street Blog
by Bill Singer
by Bill Singer
WEEK IN REVIEW from BrokeAndBroker.com by Bill Singer
May 25, 2014
Check kiting has apparently become an enforcement priority on Wall Street . . . at least when it involves the industry's men and women. Bill Singer asks in his BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, how come there seems to be a double standard when the same type of conduct involves the employer firms? And then Bill ask the even more provocative question: How come regulators are not fined and suspended for the same conduct? READ
I often warn potential clients that it is often just as expensive to defend an innocent person as a guilty one. Frankly, sometimes it's more expensive to represent someone who is not guilty of the charges. As a recent FINRA expungement arbitration demonstrates, the cost of representing an individual who was not even named in a lawsuit may be astronomical. All of which reminds me of that famous Marx Brothers routine about the exorbitant cost for asking musicians to not practice -- you couldn't afford it! READ
In today's BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, we consider a case in which the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") alleges that an unregistered company engaged in unregistered broker-dealer activity - that's about as bread-and-butter an SEC enforcement matter as the federal regulator could possibly handle. Notwithstanding the seemingly plain vanilla nature of this matter, there are a number of interesting twists and turns. READ
It is among the most common calls that I get from industry clients. They were involved in some dispute or incident, and the police were called, and something happened but they're not exactly sure what the legal term is, and now they think that they may have to notify their brokerage firm of the event, and they may also have to amend their Form U4, and . . . Well, so it goes. Bill, what the hell do I do and how should I disclose it? Sadly, it's not always an easy question to answer, particularly when the caller is so excited that he or she isn't able to answer some basic questions: Were you arrested? Were you charged? Were you convicted? Did you plead? Were the charges dismissed? In today's BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, we examine an even more tortured fact pattern involving an individual who was charged with a misdemeanor and two felonies and managed to resolve the whole mess on fairly favorable terms -- but then bungled his Wall Street disclosure obligations. READ
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