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 […]
Tips On Avoiding Getting Sucked Into Bad Investment (CNNfn Transcript)
Brian Smiley interviewed on CNNfn by Ali Velshi. Ali Velshi, CNNfn anchor, Business Unusual: The good old days, your stockbroker’s number was kept on speed dial and every stock you bought went through the roof. But now, trusting your investment is like trusting the weather and even when the forecast calls for sunshine, you still bring […]
Old NFL Man Trusts His Money to Another But Soon Regrets It
The Wall Street Journal reports on large award for former NFL star represented by Mike Bishop and Brian Smiley ATLANTA — As a defensive end in the National Football League, Larry Roberts worried about blowing his newfound fortune. His pay had soared to $1.6 million, but he knew he had just a few years to […]
Josephthal Lyon, Ex-Broker Ordered To Pay $2 Million
Wall Street Journal reports on a multi-million dollar award for client arbitration represented by Brian Smiley. Josephthal Lyon & Ross and one of its former brokers must pay nearly $2 million in an arbitration case that alleged the former broker steered an investor to risky private-company investments without spelling out the risks.
Amateur Investors Often Make Ill-Advised Moves In Bumpy Market
Brian Smiley comments on mismarketed limited partnership investments. New York — Even Warren Buffett can blow it big-time with a rotten pick. Just ask him about the $358 million stake in USAir in 1989 that’s worth about half that today. If a current-day deity can blunder in placid markets, imagine the potential for crashing a […]
Wall Street: With The New Year, New Scams
New York Times quotes Brian Smiley on investment scams. An investor stampede for mutual funds that invest in “Republican” investment plays? A brokerage firm that cleans up selling its underwritings of Chinese cellular phone companies to United States municipalities? Where will the financial scams, disasters and embarrassments of 1995 be found? And will the D-word […]
M&A’s $5 Million Existential Crisis
Defective fairness opinion results in a $5 Million award and “existential crisis” in the M&A industry. After the recent arbitration ruling against First Boston, angst has penetrated the once solid and predictable business of issuing fairness opinions
Big Board Panel Orders CS First Boston To Pay $5 Million Over Fairness Report
Brian Smiley mentioned in Wall Street Journal on clients’ $5,000,000 award for misleading M&A fairness opinion. A New York Stock Exchange arbitration panel ordered CS First Boston Inc. to pay a total of $5 million to a group of doctors who claimed that the big investment bank gave a faulty fairness opinion in a 1992 merger […]
N.A.S.D. Set to Expand Available Data to Public
Brian Smiley quoted in New York Times on broker disclosure rule. The board of the National Association of Securities Dealers is expected to announce today that it has approved a plan to make more information publicly available about disciplinary action against brokerage firms and their registered representatives.
Investing: Brokers Who Call Cold And Follow Hot Scripts
Brian Smiley comments in New York Times article about cold calls from brokers. The first call is a warm-up. “Hello, is this Mr. Joe Smith? Joe, this is Sally Script with Wannamakabuck Investment Bankers in New York. Joe . . . (pause) before I go any further, I want you to relax. I’m not calling to sell […]
