New Jersey Lawyer & Attorney : Stark & Stark Law Firm : New Jersey Law Blog

Stark & Stark’s Securities Group Shareholder, Bill Singer, is the author of a weekly column, Intelligent Investing, for Forbes.com. The column focuses on Wall Street regulatory developments and discusses regulation from the individual investor’s point of view. Mr. Singer authored the December 16, 2009 article, The Ralph Kiner Lesson For Wall Street: The old-guard brokerage industry just isn't getting the message, as part of his Intelligent Investing series.

The article discusses the fact that in the past year many customers trusted the advice of Wall Street's biggest brokerage firms and lost most or all of their investments in the process. Mr. Singer states that the excess of poor recommendations, conflicts of interest and insider trading secrets will have a devastating effect to the industry. You can read the full article online here.

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Stark & Stark Employment Group Chair, Thomas B. Lewis, was quoted in the November 17, 2009 RIABiz.com article, RIAs drive explosive growth of the Broker Protocol. The article discusses the recent rise in firms who have signed the Protocol for Broker Recruiting and what this truce will mean for changes in wirehouses across the country. Mr. Lewis states that he expects the growth in the number of firms signing the Protocol to continue, and states that as more sign on, there’s even more incentive to join.

You can read the full article online here.

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Shareholder in Stark & Stark’s Securities Group, Bill Singer, was a featured guest on Bloomberg TV this morning discussing the closing arguments made today in the government’s case against former Bear Stearns' hedge-fund managers, Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, who were responsible for misleading investors and the eventual loss of roughly $1.6 billion. Mr. Singer reviews the evidence collected against the defendants and discusses whether or not the prosecution has been able to effectively make their case and prove that these two criminals lied and mislead the public off which resulted in the billion dollar loss.

You can watch the full video online here.

 

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Stark & Stark Securities group Shareholder, Bill Singer, is the author of a weekly column, Intelligent Investing, for Forbes.com. The column focuses on Wall Street regulatory developments and discusses regulation from the individual investor’s point of view. Mr. Singer authored the October 23, 2009 article, Go To The FBI Cold, as part of his Intelligent Investing series. The article discusses a recent trend in trading platform scams, which are designed to lure investors into funding high-yield investment plans or alternative investments. Though these plans claim to yield high returns, in most cases, they are simply fraudulent schemes. In light of his findings, Mr. Singer notified the Securities & Exchange Commission in hopes of preventing another Madoff fiasco.

Although the information provided could assist in putting an end to these scams, the SEC was unresponsive for weeks and did little to use the information to prevent investors from losing millions. Mr. Singer states that the SEC’s history of complacent and untimely responses was responsible for the missed opportunity to end Madoff’s 16-year long Ponzi scheme and this most recent example of their inability to provide a timely response will only discourage whistleblowers from aiding in the prevention of future schemes from occurring.

You can read Mr. Singer’s full article online here.

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Stark & Stark Employment Group Chair, Thomas B. Lewis, was quoted in the October 19, 2009 Wall Street Journal article, COMPLIANCE WATCH: Expulsion Shows Risks Of Outside Accounts.

The article discusses the recent expulsion of Miguel A. Chavez by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The expulsion comes as a result of Chavez's association with firms that sell securities after he opened an outisde account and did not inform his employer of the account. Mr. Lewis states that brokers who are contemplating a job change may want to move their assets to another brokerage if they anticipate a dispute about money owed for a signing or retention bonus, which are typically secured by promissory notes.

You can read the full article oline here. (PDF)

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Stark & Stark Employment Group Chair, Thomas B. Lewis, and Stark & Stark Securities Group Shareholder, Bill Singer, were quoted in the September 29, 2009 RegisteredRep.com article, Can You Take It With You?

The article discusses a recent class action lawsuit led by Mark Thierman which seeks to change the current practice of brokerage firm's demanding advisors pay back the full balance of promissory notes after they have left the firm. The suit was filed the same day a FINRA arbitration panel ordered Thomas Banus to repay Smith Barney roughly $39,000, the balance plus interest on the loan Banus received when he joined Smith Barney two years earlier.

The suit argues that Citigroup did not fulfill it's obligations to Banus, or the other members of the class action, and the mismanagement of the firm forced the advisors to seek employment elsewhere.

If Thierman is successful in proving that Citigroup breached that duty, due to the similarity of  employment contracts used at brokerage firms, this suit could have a major impact on large firms throughout the country. However, Mr. Singer states, "At the end of the day the defense will say, 'A contract is a contract. You knew what you were getting into when you signed the deal. Now, own up to it."

You can read the full article online here. (PDF)

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Thomas D. Giachetti, Chair of Stark & Stark's Securities group and Henry E. Van Blunk, Shareholder in Stark & Stark's Business & Corporate group authored an article for the July 2009 edition of the Charles Schwab Institutional Compliance Review entitled An Overview of External Transition Planning for the Registered Investment Adviser.

The article discusses how important it is for advisers to implement a succession plan for their firm in order to prepare for possible transitions in the future. Mr. Van Blunk and Mr. Giachetti state that due to the current economic climate, implementing a successful succession plan is even more crucial to the future success of a business.

You can read the full article online here. (PDF)

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Stark & Stark Securities group Shareholder, Bill Singer, was quoted in the July 16, 2009 New Jersey Law Journal article, Feeder Funds Held Subject to Commodity Pool Regulation. The article discusses Monday’s U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which states, “A fund that solicits money from investors for trading in commodity futures is subject to registration and regulation as a commodity pool operator, even if it does no trading itself.”

The ruling comes shortly after the sentencing of Bernard Madoff who stole over $50 billion from investors during his decade-long Ponzi scheme and could now have repercussions in similar suits against other “feeder funds.”

Mr. Singer states that this case could help to lay the foundation for future actions against feeder funds, even those which were involved in the Madoff scam. Mr. Singer also states that the ruling brings to light the need for Congress to update commodities and securities laws in order to keep up with the changing markets. 

You can read the full article here. (PDF)

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Bill Singer, Shareholder in Stark & Stark’s Securities group, was interviewed yesterday on CBC News. Mr. Singer commented on the 150-year sentence delivered to Bernard Madoff in response to the tens of billions of dollars he stole from hundreds of investors in his Ponzi scheme.

Mr. Singer states that while he is happy that Madoff received the maximum sentence possible, it will do little to change the ways of criminal Wall Street investors. Mr. Singer warns that regulation of our securities markets has to be preemptive and focused on prevention instead of punishment in order to prevent another similar situation from occurring again in the next five to ten years.

You can watch the full interview online here.
 

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Thomas D. Giachetti, Chair of Stark & Stark’s Securities group, and Henry E. Van Blunk, Shareholder in Stark & Stark’s Business & Corporate group, authored an article for the June 2009 edition of the Charles Schwab Institutional Compliance Review, entitled An Overview of Internal Succession Planning for the Registered Investment Advisor.

The article discusses the various facets a corporation needs to consider when implementing a successful succession plan. Mr. Giachetti  and Mr. Van Blunk recommend advisors to create a succession plan which focuses on planning for business continuity, protecting existing client relationships and determining what will happen when an the advisory firm founders retire. You can read the full article online here. (PDF)

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