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Blog & Investigations
Mutual Fund Scam: “Survivorship Bias” and Masking Luck as Skill
Investors wanting to diversify their portfolios often turn to equity mutual funds to get exposure to a variety of companies and industry sectors. The $15-trillion mutual fund industry in the United States was built on this desire for diversification, and…
Know Your Broker: A Quick Guide on How to Protect Yourself When Hiring a Financial Advisor
Guest post by April Harris, Fordham University School of Law JD Candidate (2015) In a recent Investment News article, Mason Braswell explores the hiring practices of the securities brokerage firm IAA Financial. Braswell writes, “[o]f the 37 Finra-registered brokers at the firm,…
Financial Punditry Should Be Taken with a Gigantic Grain of Salt
Guest Post by Erick Haman, Fordham University School of Law JD Candidate (2015) With Clash of the Financial Pundits, Joshua Brown and Jeff Macke tell the history of financial media and punditry while evaluating its worth looking to the future. Brown,…
FINRA Fines Morgan Stanley Smith Barney $5 Million for Supervisory Failures in Connection with Initial Public Offerings
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced recently that it had imposed a $5 million fine on Wall Street brokerage firm Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. The fine resulted from the firm’s practices in selling shares in initial public offerings (IPOs)…
Morgan & Morgan and The Galbraith Law Firm Announce the Investigation of John Thomas Financial, John Thomas Bridge and Opportunity Fund LP I and the John Thomas Bridge and Opportunity Fund LP II
Morgan & Morgan, working with The Galbraith Law Firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of John Thomas Capital Management, renamed as Patriot 28 LLC. This investigation concerns conduct by various individuals regarding two hedge funds…
Departing Brokers Should Brace For Battle: Even When Financial Advisors Follow All the Rules, Jilted Brokerage Firms Wreak Havoc
When a financial advisor wants to move from one brokerage firm to another, there is a specific set of rules that the broker must follow in order to avoid liability to the broker’s former firm. Those rules are set out…
Roundup: A Quick Survey of Key Stories and Events on Wall Street and in the Broader Financial World
Pershing Square Capital’s Herbalife Bet Draws Intense Media Scrutiny and Herbalife Is Now Under Investigation The New York Times published a deep-dive exploration of hedge-fund titan William Ackman’s big bet against nutritional supplement and vitamin marketer Herbalife. The piece delves into the multi-pronged…
Warning: FINRA’s BrokerCheck Reports about Financial Advisors Omit Crucial Facts that Would Help Protect Investors from Bad Brokers
A major study by the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA) has revealed that brokers and brokerage firms are able to shield from public view the truth about crucial aspects of their personal and professional history. A link to the…
FINRA Moves Forward with Plans on “Expungement” and Arbitrator Classification
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is moving forward with plans on two little-noticed fronts that could offer substantial improvements to mandatory arbitration of disputes over investment losses. In a venue many think is stacked against investors, these changes are…