Brokerage firms normally want to stay out of court and force their clients to sue in arbitration; yet, Securities America, a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc., went to court in an effort to cram down a class action settlement on its clients who had brought individual FINRA arbitration claims against it. Why? Money (of course). Securities […]
True Crime Saga “Inside Job”-The Real Cause of the Economic Collapse of 2008
The economic collapse of 2008 was no accident. It was an “Inside Job,” according to filmmaker Charles Ferguson. His award winning documentary is essential viewing for anyone who wants to look behind the curtain at the forces that caused the real estate/subprime bubble that brought many of the world’s biggest economies to their knees. There are plenty […]
Regions Morgan Keegan Bond Funds
Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP has represented a number of individual and institutional investors who bought shares of Morgan Keegan’s RMK High Yield Bond Funds. RMK Funds were marketed as low risk investments, despite a high concentration in subprime mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations. A particular problem was that the funds invested in low […]
Brian Smiley Quoted in “On Wall Street”
Brian Smiley was quoted in On Wall Street concerning a new FINRA rule that allows parties to have investor cases decided by panels that do not include an arbitrator affiliated with the securities industry. The SEC’s approval of the new process was great news to Brian Smiley, a partner at Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP, […]
Brian Smiley Appointed to SICA
Brian Smiley was appointed as one of three public members of the Securities Industry Conference on Arbitration (SICA). SICA was established in 1977 with the support of the SEC to help protect the rights of public investors in securities arbitration. SICA provides a forum at which securities arbitration forums, state regulators, the SEC, representatives of investors, and the securities […]
Auction Rate Securities
Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP has represented clients with significant losses resulting from investments in Auction Rate Securities (ARS). These securities were sold by virtually every major Wall Street firm and were marketed as a highly liquid, safe investment equivalent to CDs or money markets, but with a higher interest rate. In reality, the auction market was […]
Can the SEC Beat Goldman Sachs?
Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP quoted in U.S. News & World Report on SEC’s suit against Goldman Sach’s. News that the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Goldman Sachs has sent the investment bank’s stocks reeling. But are investors overreacting?
FINRA Blames Morgan Keegan, Not Brokers, For Hiding Risk
Dow Jones quotes Brian Smiley on securities regulators’ charges against Morgan Keegan. Securities regulators’ actions against Morgan Keegan & Co. put its brokers in the same basic category as investors: duped.
Securities Arbitration Is Faulted
Brian Smiley comments in Wall Street Journal on PIABA’s petition to the SEC. Attorneys who represent investors have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to drop a requirement that a securities-industry representative sit on arbitration panels.
Heard Off The Street: Burned Investors Find Bear Can Bring Out Worst in Broker
Brian Smiley: “99 times out of 100, if a broker is liable, the firm is.” In the spring of 2000, just as the 2 1/2-year stock market slide was getting under way, Rickey Miller of Homer City was a little uneasy about his portfolio as he headed off on a cruise to Tahiti. So he […]
