In 1991 Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), in an attempt to end unwanted prerecorded telemarketing messages and unwanted calls to cell phones. Although it was enacted more than 20 years ago, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that the number of claims for violations of the TCPA that are filed in, or transferred to, […]
According to the Wall Street Journal, veterans who hire financial advisors to assist them in receiving military benefits are at risk for abuse. These financial advisors are accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of General Counsel. Attorneys, veteran service organization employees, financial planners and others are all eligible to apply for such a […]
On the morning of Friday, August 24, 2012, visitors to the Empire State Building were lining up to ascend the famous structure. The area was crowded, as usual, with tourists and office workers. There was nothing out of the ordinary until police began firing shots into the crowd. A total of 16 shots were fired. […]
Whether the move is voluntary or as a result of an unexpected termination, financial advisors moving to new brokerage firms face a legal and business quagmire that may affect their ability to serve new and existing clients: What about the client list and the accounts that were serviced with the former firm? Can the new firm […]
“He was a very smart man but he died like an idiot,” is the frank and harsh assessment made by Paul Skurka concerning his friend and fellow Holocaust survivor, Roman Blum, who died last year at the age of 97 without a will. Blum had no known heirs and no surviving members. Blum’s estate is […]
Retirees are being solicited by certain companies to obtain “pension advances,” which regulators say are really disguised loans. The New York Times has determined that pension advances carry (after factoring in fees) interests rates ranging from 27 percent to 106 percent. Jessica Silver-Greenberg, “Loans Borrowed Against Pensions Squeeze Retirees,” New York Times, Apr. 28, 2013, […]
In response to a DOJ civil lawsuit that the company committed fraud when it asserted that its ratings were independent and objective, Standard and Poor’s Rating Services has claimed that the assertions were mere “puffery.” Whether or not the argument is legally viable, the Wall Street Journal notes that the position degrades the reputation of […]
For years, brokers with sizeable books of business (large and well-funded client bases) often moved between firms in order to receive robust up-front bonuses. The bonuses often measure between $750,000 and $1 million. The bonuses are generally paid to brokers in the form of “forgivable loans” – for each year that the broker is employed […]
A New York Times article on the Texas prison system entitled, “In Texas, Arguing That Heat Can Be A Death Sentence for Prisoners,” exposes a shameful problem that exists in jails and prisons throughout America–prisoners dying from hyperthermia or cooking to death in their cells. The Times reports that last summer, in a 26-day period […]