An irreverent Wall Street Blog
BrokeAndBroker.com Blog by Bill Singer WEEK IN REVIEW
July 18, 2015
On March 9 and 25, 2015 by the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC's") Claims Review Staff ("CRS") recommended an award in excess of $3 million for a whistleblower Claimant and recommended the denial of an award to a second whistleblower Claimant. The denial was predicated upon the second Claimant's "unreasonable delay in reporting the illegal conduct to the Commission." READ
Take a look at any number of Wall Street compensation packages and you will be confronted with a breath-taking array of up-front, back-end, and deferred compensation, often coupled with forgivable loans, promissory note, and/or bonuses. This array of compensation tools often comes attached to an intricate web of contracts, agreements, letters, and understandings. All of which sets the stage for some truly nasty and epic break-ups between an employee and employer, particularly when the terms in one document contradict the terms in another. Read this recent case of one such employment honeymoon that went awry and the parties found themselves in court where they may, or may not, belong. READ
Few issues cause more friction between public customers and brokerage firms than margin disputes. By now, we have grown accustomed to customers yelling and screaming in outrage over an allegedly unjustified sell-out. Today's BrokeAndBroker.com Blog has the shoe on the other foot with the customer being sued over an unpaid margin debit. Now don't get me wrong, it's not especially unusual for a firm to sue a customer over margin; but in the arbitration presented here, the brokerage firm is not in the role of the Claimant. READ
You may have seen FINRA's BrokerCheck television advertising campaign. Public investors are urged to do their due diligence about industry stockbrokers and brokerage firms. It all sounds very promising -- except a number of high-profile naysayers just lambasted the whole marketing approach in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The complaints are more about what FINRA isn't disclosing online than what the self-regulatory organization is. Read the full-text of the letter and consider veteran lawyer Bill Singer's commentary. READ
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It starts off in relatively ho-hum fashion. A broker-dealer sues a former employee over the balance due on a promissory note. Then, it takes a bit of a wild turn when the employee counterclaims and raises allegations of harassment and discrimination based upon sex and sexual orientation. In the end, we have a decision, we have multiple awards, but we're left scratching our heads as to how we got from Point A to Point B. READ