On April 28, 2012, Brian Smiley was a guest presenter at a public forum on “African Americans & Retirement” sponsored by the Economics Department at Spelman College and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. Brian spoke on “How to Avoid Being a Victim of Investment Rip-offs & Frauds.” The forum was moderated […]
Judge Frees Investors to Pursue Medical Capital Holdings and Provident Royalties Arbitration Claims
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 […]
Ponzi Schemes
Even in the wake of the “Bernie” Madoff scandal, investors continue to lose billions of dollars in Ponzi schemes. Stripped to its bare bones, a Ponzi scheme is a ploy where a promoter pays one set of investors with money raised from other investors. Ponzi promoters promise investors high returns but offer few details, except […]
