by Bill Singer
New Registered Rep. Magazine
July 8, 2011
Stockbroker's Career Ends With a TILT
The road to Hell may be paved with good intentions, but stockbroker Earnest Flowers III seems to have found a shortcut.
History shows us how easily investors are victimized by what is known as affinity fraud - in this case, the victims seem to have fallen prey to Flowers because of their common church affiliation. Notwithstanding the apparent cloak of religion, this fraud is little more than the most banal of modern-day securities scams: the Ponzi scheme.
READ Bill Singer's July column at Stockbroker's Career Ends With a TILT
Jul 1, 2011
Earnest Flowers III hit all the bumpers and set off all the regulatory bells...
Street Legal: The Regulatory Semantics of Customer Complaints
Jun 20, 2011
A manager learns the hard way that wording matters...
Street Legal: Blaming, Naming, and FINRA Gaming
May 13, 2011
Brokers who go unnamed in complaints may still face disclosure issues...
Street Legal: When Off the Clock is On the Record
Apr 1, 2011
Know what you can do-and what you can't-outside of work....
Street Legal: FINRA's Decision on a Financial Advisors' Tweets Is a Lesson for All
Mar 15, 2011
FINRA deemed that an advisor's tweets about a public company were unbalanced and lacked the necessary disclosure about the "substantial positions" held in the stock by the advisor and her family....
Street Legal: Beware the Bankrupt Financial Advisor
Mar 1, 2011
A FINRA arbitration notes personal bankruptcy and credit problems....
Street Legal: An Open or Shut Arbitration
Feb 1, 2011
Repayment of an EFL rested on whether a UBS branch was permanently closed...
Street Legal: Till Death (And Arbitration) Do Us Part
Jan 1, 2011
Advisors can face collateral damage when spouses feud over assets....
Street Legal: Honor Impugned, Advisor Strikes Back
Dec 1, 2010
FINRA backs an advisor's effort to clear his name...
Street Legal: When the Best Defense Is a Good Offense
Nov 1, 2010
How FINRA arbitrations can backfire on employers....
Street Legal: The Message and the Medium
Oct 1, 2010
The SEC warns there are no "private" business communications....
Street Legal: Roads Not Taken
Sep 1, 2010
There is a troubling lack of uniformity among regulators....
Street Legal: FINRA Arbitration: Sometimes It Pays to Settle
Aug 1, 2010
Getting your day in court or arbitration may be more costly than you bargained for....
Street Legal: A Not-So-Clever Resignation Strategy
Jul 1, 2010
Don't change your clients' phone numbers and addresses just before quitting....
Street Legal: The UK Junks Its FSA, When Will We Junk the SEC? 
Jun 18, 2010
The SEC is a gas-guzzling dinosaur of a vehicle whose engine warning-light went on years ago. It is a wheezing, dyspeptic boiler in our basement. Nothing good will come of this....
Street Legal: Outside Business, Why Employers Hate It
Jun 1, 2010
Sometimes outside business activities are a no-win proposition...
Street Legal: Widows Always Win, Wachovia Pays
May 28, 2010
Seventy-nine-year-old widow Lois Pillen alleged that in 2007, various securities were purchased in her Wachovia Securities LLC account without her authorization. The FINRA Arbitrator found Respondent Wachovia liable for and $26,000.00 in compensatory damages plus interest; and ordered Wachovia to pay Pillen $225 in costs....
Street Legal: FINRA Honor and Principle
May 1, 2010
Why is the regulator always Gone Fishin' when it comes to employee rights?...
Street Legal: SEC's Own Report Says that It Missed Tips and Clues in Giant Ponzi Scheme
Apr 28, 2010
Why did the SEC miss a 2002 letter that warned about the Stanford Ponzi scheme? An SEC internal investigation blames "institutional influences" within the SEC. The SEC investigation report release date? The day the SEC brought the fraud case against Goldman. ...
Street Legal: A Tale of Two Citis
Apr 1, 2010
When advisors lose their jobs but decide to keep loans or other payments from their former employers, expensive legal trouble can follow. The issue is...
Street Legal: Getting To Suit-ability
Mar 1, 2010
It's not enough to warn your customers about risk....
Street Legal: Some Expense-ive Lessons
Feb 1, 2010
Fudging your expense records has regulatory consequences....
Street Legal: The Woodshed
Jan 1, 2010
Why is it always the little guy who gets sent to the regulator's woodshed?...
