Criminal Law

Dreiert Trustee Recovers $100 Million in Assets

Posted on March 26, 2009
In his report to the court, the Dreier Trustee says that he has recovered over $100 million in assets, including an 18 million dollar yacht and 39 million in artwork.The story is at DealBook, take a look at this lifestyle, apparently all financed by selling fraudulent notes...

The Problem With Flogging A.I.G

Posted on March 23, 2009
Well, the New York Times gets it. We have much bigger problems than the AIG bonuses.And why do Merrill executives get to keep their bonuses when everyone else is going to have it taxed away? Because they were paid in December. Another piece of lunacy of the AIG bonus bill...

Congressional Pandering and the 100% Income Tax on Compensation

Posted on March 21, 2009
Congress does a number of things very well. Pandering to the populace is one of them, and nothing demonstrates this as well as the House's attempt to punish AIG. The other thing they do well is pass a bill that has popular appeal, and then hope that someone else stops them, or there is a presidential veto, or the courts strike it down...

Accountant Charged in Madoff Ponzi Scheme

Posted on March 20, 2009
Madoff's accountant has been charged with securities fraud and related charges arising from an alleged failure to conduct audits. They are NOT charging him with knowing of the scheme, but rather for falsely certifying that he audited the financial statements...

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Dreier?s Lawyer Expects Guilty Plea

Posted on March 20, 2009
Enough with AIG, Dodd, politicians and Madoff.Various news sources are reporting speculation that Marc Dreier is going to plead guilty to money laundering charges, and that creditors are contemplating suits against Dreier's "partners."Dreier?s Lawyer Expects Guilty Plea; Firm Lawyers at Risk in Bankruptcy Case

Naked Short Sales Hint Fraud in Bringing Down Lehman

Posted on March 19, 2009
As many as 32 million shares of Lehman were sold and not delivered as of the day of Lehman's demise, indicating the potential for a massive naked short of the stock.Naked shorting is illegal. While shorting a stock (selling it without owning it) is legal, the seller must borrow the stock from someone else, and deliver the stock that he sold to the borrower...

Liddy Says Geithner Knew About Bonuses

Posted on March 19, 2009
AIG Chief Edward Liddy says that Geithner knew about the pending bonuses to its employees as far back as November 2008 when he was the Federal Reserve Chairman. This directly contradicts the timeline put forward by Geithner and the Administration,who claims that they only found out this month...

The Search for Madoff Assets Continues

Posted on March 18, 2009
For those who worried that Madoff's guilty plea would stop the hunt for assets, have no fear. Prosecutors have announced that they would seek to recover more assets from the Madoffs, including those held by his wife Ruth Madoff.An interest in a real estate fund (unvalued), 31 million in loans to Madoff's sone, interests in 20 businesses, 2...

Madoff Claims Florida As Legal Residence

Posted on March 18, 2009
The story is about the Florida homestead exemption. If you are a Florida resident, it is difficult, if not impossible, for a creditor to take your home from you. It is basically exempt from seizure. We can debate the proprietary of that till the cows come home...

More Details on the AIG Bonuses

Posted on March 18, 2009
NYS Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has some details on the AIG bonuses, and the situation is not getting any better for the Administration or AIG.First, please understand my ire. The details of these bonus payments are not yet public. Some reports say they are for executives, others say that 400 employees are included in the bonus payments...

AIG Executive Start Returning Bonuses

Posted on March 18, 2009
Good for them. More honorable than the politicans...."Under intense pressure from the Obama administration and Congress, the head of bailed-out insurance giant AIG declared Wednesday that some of the firm's executives have begun returning all or part of bonuses totaling $165 million...

Obama Admin Didn't Know About AIG Bonuses Until This Month!

Posted on March 17, 2009
Something is drastically wrong. Geithner cannot possibly be this stupid. Frank and Dodd cannot possibly be this stupid. What responsible person, using billions of dollars in taxpayer money does not know that the entity receiving the money has contractual commitments that are coming due?Sorry, I don't buy it...

The Case for Bonuses at A.I.G.

Posted on March 16, 2009
Dealbook at the NYT points out the legal arguments, and policy reasons behind honoring contracts. If we let the government retroactively abrogate valid employment agreements, what is the impact on business in the US?Still, was the fact that bonuses were part of AIG employee's compensation really a surprise to the administration? If so, we have really big problems ahead...

Why all the Moaning over AIG Bonuses?

Posted on March 15, 2009
In case you missed it, there is quite a bit of consternation over AIG's bonus payments to its executives and employees. With AIG accepting bailout funds, the fact that they are paying $165 million to executives and employees after accepting the money has become a rallying point for the Obama administration and for a segment of the general public...

Friday Q&A: Should I used my firm's attorney?

Posted on March 13, 2009
Question: My firm and I have both been sued in arbitration by a customer. The firm is offering to have its attorney represent me, as well as the firm in the arbitration. Should I use the firm's attorney, or hire my own?Answer: This is a recurring question from brokers who are named in an arbitration proceeding by a customer, and whose firm offers to provide the attorney to represent both the broker, and the firm...

Madoff to plea Guilty

Posted on March 12, 2009
Madoff is expected to plea guilty today to all 11 felony charges brought against him, with a maximum sentence of 150 years. There is plenty of speculation surrounding this plea, since one would expect that there would have been a deal that included protecting his sons and wife from civil and criminal charges...

More Madoff Civil and Criminal Suits to Come...

Posted on March 12, 2009
Madoff's guilty plea to 11 felony counts is just the beginning of what will be a long and complicated process to identify the full scope of the fraud, and to recover assets from Madoff, and others who profited from the fraud.One point that may or may not be significant is that the fraud was not 50 billion dollars, but is between 10 and 17 billion, which is what we suspected when the story first broke...

Details of Madoff Ponzi Scheme from Madoff

Posted on March 12, 2009
According to Madoff's allocution (where the defendant details his crime in connection with his guilty plea) provides some of the details that have been missing from the story thus far.According to Madoff, the fraud started in the early 1990s, when the markets were not doing well...

The Return of the UpTick Rule

Posted on March 10, 2009
The SEC is considering restoring the uptick rule, which requires that a stock trade at a price higher than its previous price, before a short sale can be made.The rule was abolished by the SEC in 2007, but was designed to prevent short sellers from beating a stock into the ground by continous short selling...

The Credit Crisis Visualized

Posted on March 09, 2009
Very well done explanation of the credit crisis. Given the medium and a running time of 10 minutes, there are some oversimplifications, and one could quibble with some of the underlying assumptions, but if you want a good overview of what happened, spend 10 minutes here...

Friday Q&A: Can I sell stocks in a foreign country?

Posted on March 06, 2009
Friday Q&A - I am licensed in the US with all of the applicable securities licenses. I would like to being servicing customers in England, France and Spain. Do I need any additional licenses?Having a license to provide investment advice in the United States does not mean that you can automatically charge for that advice everywhere else...

Amended SEC Complaint Accuses Stanford and CFO of Running Ponzi Scheme

Posted on March 02, 2009

Stifel Nicolaus to Buy Back ARS from Clients

Posted on March 02, 2009

FINRA Raises Limit for Single Arbitrator Cases

Posted on March 02, 2009

The Inside Story on the Breakdown at the SEC

Posted on March 02, 2009

Ten More Madoffs?

Posted on February 27, 2009

FBI makes first arrest in Stanford fraud case | Reuters

Posted on February 27, 2009

Madoff Made No Trades

Posted on February 23, 2009
"We have no evidence to indicate securities were purchased for customer accounts"And there it is. That statement, from the court appointed Madoff Trustee tells the story, and is the death knell for Madoff investors. There is no money, there are no securities, there were no trades...

Citibank Gets Caught in Nigerian Scam

Posted on February 21, 2009
We all get the emails, looking for us to work with some foreign minister who needs to get a gazillion dollars out of his country, for which he will give you half. You have to wonder who falls for these schemes?Well, Citibank did. Sort of. The NYT is reporting that Citibank wired 27 million dollars to various accounts from around the world from an account owned by the National Bank of Nigeria...

3 New SEC Investor Scheme Cases That Will Blow Your Mind

Posted on February 20, 2009
From StockTradingToGo, Ponzi scheme targeting the deaf, UBS hiding 14.8 billion dollars for customers, and the 8 billion dollar Stanford scheme.if(document.domain=="uslaw.com"||document.domain=="www.uslaw.com"){location.href=("http://seclaw.blogspot.com");}

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