An irreverent Wall Street Blog
BrokeAndBroker.com Blog by Bill Singer Esq WEEK IN REVIEW
May 18, 2019
Opioid Addiction on Wall Street: A Wells Fargo Employee Is Barred (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/4593/FINRA-Opioid-Drugs/
Today's featured FINRA regulatory case is about a Wells Fargo employee who was charged with converting funds from his employer and failing to fully cooperate in FINRA's ensuing investigation. Against that background of alleged misconduct, we witness an individual struggling with an opioid addiction and rehabilitation. It is a life spiraling out of control and a career headed into oblivion. There is no victory here. It is merely the devolution of a promising life into tragedy. Hopefully, the respondent will find redemption. Hopefully, the publication of this case may prompt others to seek earlier help or cause their friends and family to undertake earlier intervention.
GUEST BLOG: . . . and I Feel Fine by Aegis Frumento Esq
(BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)
(BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/4592/aegis-frumento-econometrics/
By all indications, we may eventually have to give up beef, not from vegan sensibilities, but simply because it will become too expensive. The grain now fed to livestock could feed almost a billion people, and those people may soon need it. Not to worry. The hottest IPO of the month was not Uber, which went from bang to whimper with little wait time. It was Beyond Meat, which was priced at $25, scooted up to $80 in its first trading day, and has stayed there despite tariffs and other scares to date. On its heels is competitor Impossible Foods, which raised $300 million in private financing and will itself go public soon. Both those companies are developing foods from plant-stuff that taste sort of like beef. It's not quite the real thing yet, but I'm confident that in a quarter century we won't be able to tell the difference.
Former Morgan Stanley Branch Manager Wins Expungement of Failure to Supervise Claims (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/4591/finra-arbitration-excessive-trading/
Our publisher Bill Singer finds himself in the unusual and uncomfortable position of questioning a FINRA Arbitrator's expungement recommendation. As Bill makes clear, he may simply not have all the facts or he may misunderstand the arbitrator's rationale. Consequently, justice may well have been served in the recommendation of expungement. On the other hand, solely going by what's set forth in the FINRA Arbitration Decision, Bill isn't convinced and he raises a number of troubling questions. See what you think.
866 Trades In 15 Leveraged ETFs For 47 Customers Ends With 1 Bar (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/4590/finra-awc-etf/
In a recent regulatory settlement, FINRA barred a former registered representative, who had become a nonregistered, associated person. Yeah, a nonregistered, associated person. And that nonregistered, associated person respondent somehow managed to get involved with the solicitation and execution of 866 securities transactions involving 15 different non-traditional ETFs with at least 47 customers.
FINRA Arbitrators Slam JP Morgan Over Defamatory Termination (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/4589/FINRA-Arbitration-Mascarenhas/
It's a rare thing when our publisher Bill Singer, Esq. is left speechless. Mark your calendar. Today, Bill is left in a state of stunned silence by a phenomenal FINRA Arbitration Decision, which found that a former JP Morgan representative had been defamed by her former employer. This is what mandatory FINRA intra-industry arbitration should look like. This is the appropriate extent of content and context that should be found in a Decision adjudicating such a complex and nuanced dispute.