Recent Comments:
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 28th 2008 11:48PM I've posted here about the statute of limitations before, but since it's come up again I want to reiterate my recommendation to everyone to consult a local attorney in your state who does securities litigation.
Not only will the statutes of limitation vary from state to state, they will vary by type of claim (breach of oral contract, breach of written contract, fraud, negligence). Everyone must consult an attorney regarding the facts of their particular case.
And while under most states' laws a cause of action particularly for fraud is deemed to accrue "on discovery" of the fraud, this concept has proved infinitely manipulable to attorneys (with defendants arguing that frauds "should have been discovered" much earlier than they ever reasonably COULD have.
Slightly off point but highly educational is this summation of the Supreme Court's recent ruling on a statute of limitations case concerning employment discrimination. Judicial activism (of the conservative kind) at its most outrageous. Read it and weep.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/opinion/26collins.html?_r=1&em&ex=1209355200&en=e6bdc99d0fee25a9&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 24th 2008 7:41PM Jerry,
I think you are absolutely right and that now is the time to deluge Barney Frank's office with letters and phone calls 1) thanking him and 2) letting him know that there are thousands of us out there.
The contact info we seem to have on the ARS Action List does not include a fax or email. Does anyone have these? (Lowell? I know you were in email contact with someone from his office.)
What we do have is:
Honorable Congressman Barney Frank
House Committee on Financial Services, Chairman
2252 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5931
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 24th 2008 1:54PM Wow, Mikag, thank you for that Barney Frank letter! I just forwarded it to my former FA and his branch manager and Citi's in house legal counsel with the section about holding the brokers accountable bolded. It's the first time I've contacted them in about 5 weeks. And I added the following:
"Truthfully, I hope you are all squirming like worms in a can. And I hope you ARE all held accountable. And I hope Citi's legal department is not still bobbing and weaving and spinning specious legal arguments that should make the *grownups* among us ashamed. Best, LS."
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 24th 2008 1:17PM Serge, I will say no more. I got it out of my system, done, finito!
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 24th 2008 12:07PM I find it bizarre and ironic that the Brazilian article "gets it" and says it better than ANY U.S. piece covering the story has so far. Even James Stewart.
I'm sorry, I do have to get political for a second.
Is this political? Of course it's political. "ARS" wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for a hardcore agenda of so-called "bank deregulation" pushed principally by one political party beginning in the Reagan 80's. Oversight *might have* existed in some meaningful form if it weren't for that same political party's penchant for stuffing regulatory agencies not with objective stewards but with ex-lobbyist and industry insiders interested not in protecting people, but the industry in question.
This wing resists all government oversight (free market! less government!) until they happen to need the government to bail them out (Bear Stearns!) and then, they have no trouble quickly turning to the taxpayers for a hand out. We unfortunately now have a government for and by the corporations--not a true democracy representing real people, but a plutocracy manipulated by those whose interests coincide with major corporate interests.
Don't let yourself get blindsided again in November. A certain candidate out there is calling for more deregulation, a permanent *war*, and "lower taxes" so that we can borrow more to pay for it.
OK I'm done.
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 23rd 2008 1:45PM Via email from others on the blog. State contacts for JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
"FYI, the lead on JP
Morgan is Florida, a guy named Bill Riley, 850 410 9805. Wanted to pass that along to you for future blogging. Our issue is with JP Morgan so we'llbe pursing Bill."
"Lisa, task force for Morgan Stanley-Illinos
Tanya Solov 312-793-2525"
"If you are Citi Smith Barney and calling Texas, avoid speaking to Ronak Patel, who is handling calls to Benette Ziveley. I found him less than helpful. Insist on speaking with Mr. Ziveley himself."
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 23rd 2008 12:36AM Unlucky,
Don't worry too much. They can all afford to rescind their ARPS.
Let me clear my throat here:
"During this period of market uncertainty, there are various options for brokerages which suddenly find themselves in need of emergency 'liquidity.' These may include liquidating other stocks, bonds, or assets; borrowing via margin loans at market rates; or selling their newly-returned ARPS in the so-called 'secondary market.' We will be here to assist the brokerages in any way we possibly can through these 'turbulent times of market failure.'"
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 23rd 2008 12:28AM Jerry, Don't worry, if you look at the beginning of the blog, many shills have come and gone over time. Usually, we sniff them out or just ignore them. Virtually of us are here to stick to the point and get justice.
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 22nd 2008 7:12PM If you call Ms. Tyler she will be very forthcoming about which state is handling your brokerage.
When the collapsed Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market gets personal
BloggingStocks
Apr 22nd 2008 5:01PM THE STATE REGULATORS WANT TO COMPEL THE BROKERS, yes, THE BROKERS, TO RESCIND our FRAUDULENT ARS TRANSACTIONS. That is what the multistate investigation is all about.
I just got off the phone with:
Karen Tyler
North Dakota Securities Commissioner
State Capitol - 5th Floor
600 East Boulevard Avenue
Bismarck ND 58505
701-328-2910
She wants to talk to you no matter what state you are in. I said, You will be deluged with phone calls. She said, that's my job.
She stated that while she can make no guarantees, the principal objective of the multistate task force is TO GET US OUR MONEY BACK BASED ON THE BROKERAGES' FRAUD AT POINT OF SALE. That the STATES HAVE THE POWER TO ORDER RESCISSION. They ARE NOT PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN SLAPPING THE BROKERAGES' WRISTS or just fining them (contrary to what you might be reading on this blog) although they will do so if warranted. THEY WANT THE EVIDENCE TO USE STATE POWER TO ORDER RESCISSION.
Ms Tyler told me the multistate task force is organizing itself brokerage by brokerage. (One state assigned to go after each brokerage.) The task force chair is in Massachusetts:
Bryan Lantagne
Director, Securities Division
ARS Task Force Chair
617-727-3548
Bryan.lantagne@sec.state.ma.us
I then spoke to Mr. Lantagne's assistant prosecutor in Mass. He is concentrating on nailing UBS:
Joshua S. Grinspoon
Staff Attorney
Enforcement Section
Massachusetts Securities Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 1701
Boston, MA 02108
telephone: 617/727-3548
fax: 617/248-0177
email: joshua.grinspoon@sec.state.ma.us
Mr. Grinspoon reiterated what Ms. Tyler had said: that the principal goal of the investigation is to obtain rescission of the ARS transactions from the brokerages to the investors, not to fine or slap the brokerages on the wrist, although they intend to do so if warranted. When I mentioned that there were attorneys on this blog stating that this was not the intention of regulators, he told me that was simply "untrue" in his view and that it was "wrong" for attorneys to be making such statements. Mr. Grinspoon said, "all I can tell you is that we are pursuing this with as much energy and dedication as we have ever applied to any matter."
Ms. Tyler also told me whom California victims should contact directly to organize California action:
Wayne Strumpfer
Deputy Commissioner, Dept of Corporations
916-324-6912
WStrumpf@corp.ca.gov
And because I am Smith Barney directed me to the Texas securities regulator who is heading up the SB prosecution:
TX (lead on Citi/Smith Barney)
Benette Zivley
Director, Inspections & Compliance Division
512-305-8300
bzivley@ssb.state.tx.us
I have a request in to the Task Force Chair to release the contact information for which state is handling which brokerage.
In Karen's words "Please feel free to contact any or all, and of course it is of utmost importance to submit a written complaint (if you haven't already done so). Thank you Lisa and also feel free to contact me if I can be of further assistance."
