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INTERNATIONAL MONEY MOVEMENT NETWORK SET UP FOR ISLAMIC SHARIAH COMPLIANT FINANCE (c) Carrie Devorah

•  FINRA FORCED ARBITRATION OF INVESTMENT CLIENTS IS A VIOLATION OF THE 10TH AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION RATIFIED 1791  (c) Carrie Devorah
  Forced FINRA Arbitration Is Unconstitutional (c) Carrie Devorah
  COMMENT:  SEC PROXY VOTING ROUNDTABLE  (c) Carrie Devorah
  CONGRESS APPROVING WALL STREET DERIVATIVES FORECASTS ANOTHER CRASH & A VIRTUAL ROBBERY A’ COMING (c) Carrie Devorah 
  CONGRESS IS CULPABLE FOR THE CRIME AGAINST BARBARA ANN FINN (c) Carrie Devorah
  BLAME FINRA FOR ERIC GARDNER's DEATH (c) Carrie Devorah
  

• BLAME FINRA FOR FERGUSON (c) Carrie Devorah
  FINRA Requests Comment on a Revised Proposal to Adopt Consolidated FINRA Rule 2231  (Customer Account Statements) (c) Carrie Devorah 
  COMMENT: SEC File Number S7-07-11 (c) Carrie Devorah
  COMMENT: FINRA Form 211 (c) Carrie Devorah
• COMMENT ON FINRA's Rules 2210 & 2214  (c) Carrie Devorah
  COMMENT: FINRA's GOT SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO (c) Carrie Devorah
• COMMENT ON SEC PROPOSAL FOR JOBS Jumpstart Our Business Startups  (c) Carrie Devorah

THE REALITY OF CONGRESSWOMAN MAXINE WATERS DENOUNCING THE HOUSE DEREGULATION OF THE CFPB CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU RETURNING $12 BILLION TO CONSUMERS IS THAT WATERS IGNORES THAT MORE THAN $12 BILLION WAS STOLEN, COVERED UP BY FINRA FRAUDULENTLY TAKING INVESTMENT CLIENT COMPLAINTS & COMPLAINTS AGAINST INVESTMENT ADVISORS AWAY FROM THE COURTS, DOES NOT REPORT CRIMES TO COPS, MISLEADS ON FINRAs ROLE& EXPUNGING INVESTMENT CLIENT COMPLAINTS, ALLOWS LAWYERS TO VIOLATE LAW RULES & ETHICS, DELETING COMPLAINT HISTORIES AGAINST FINANCIAL CONSULTANTS WHO DRAG INVESTMENT CLIENT COMPLAINT IN TO THE NASD/FINRA FORUM THAT THE SEC IGNORED CONGRESS' ORDER TO MAKE MULTIPLE SRO Self REGULATORY AGENCIES OF.....

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, denounced Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s proposal to weaken our country’s financial and consumer protections:
“Today, just steps from Wall Street, Chairman Hensarling unveiled a special interest wish list that would deregulate the financial sector to the detriment of consumers and investors. In the six years since Democrats saved our economy from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Republicans have been clear about their intent to dismantle the historic protections we put in place under the Dodd-Frank Act. They seem to forget about the trillions of dollars of wealth that were stripped from American families and they refuse to acknowledge that the crisis was caused by reckless behavior on Wall Street and a wholly inadequate regulatory regime. That’s why most Americans favor robust financial regulation. They know that Wall Street Reform has made our financial system safer, fairer, and stronger.

“From hobbling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – an agency that’s returned nearly $12 billion to 25 million consumers in just five short years – to undoing regulators’ ability to rein-in non-bank actors like AIG, to bringing back the same type of speculative trading that led to the crisis, to repealing Dodd-Frank’s mechanism to unwind large banks without harming taxpayers, this package is a gift to nearly every special interest that the Financial Services Committee oversees. While the plan purports to get tough on bank crime, it gives Wall Street a ‘get out of jail free’ card by including legislation that would gut law enforcement’s ability to prosecute financial fraud. It fakes a step in the right direction by requiring higher capital ratios at the largest banks, but immediately takes two steps backward by eliminating any oversight of the riskiest activities at banks and non-banks by dismantling the Financial Stability Oversight Council and subjecting bank regulators to the appropriations process. And it takes yet another shot at the Labor Department’s much-needed conflict of interest rule, threatening Americans’ hard-earned retirement savings.

“The Chairman’s proposal takes a page from Donald Trump’s casino playbook by gambling with the American economy. We cannot allow Republicans to take us back to the depths of the financial crisis by weakening regulatory oversight and giving banks the tools to game the system once again.”

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Adressing Regulatory Notice 15-24 ; 15-26 / TRACE products (c) Carrie Devorah :
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VIA Electronic MAIL
Marcia E Asquith
Office of the Corporate Secretary
FINRA
1735 K Street NW
Washington DC 20006-1506

FINRA Regulatory Notice15-24
FINRA Regulatory Notice15-26

The lack of comments to the request is stunningly shocking. This new academic product is at risk to the dealers but also to the investor.

Any data accessed online or transmitted online has no privacy. The use of T.O.R., the Onion Router and ICANN/IANA remind us there is no privacy.

Google, the Internet Archive and others copy and same all data. Ashley Madison, Google and Facebook are three prime examples that deleted is not gone. Deleted is gone until someone restores it, more often not the content creator. Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Jonathan Pollard and Snowden are four examples of data being accessed by parties with mal-intent.

“Investor Ed” is not using investors and brokers for studies but “investor ed” is publishing required data on brokerage reps clarifying otherwise not doing so on IA v BD matters is at a cost.

All proposals and content must be compliant with the President Clinton’s Memorandum On Plain Writing

[1] that was followed in 2010 with President Obama’s Act On Plain Writing.

[2] Need disclosure of the academics along with disclosure of what the academics are being paid. Need disclosure of who is accessing the data. Need a pre-disclosure of the proposed study topics in advance of the program implementation. Need to know that dead accounts, accounts a client no longer uses, are not going to be used in S.R.O. studies.

A lot of data is already missing that before F.I.N.R.A. steps in to getting permission to collect data must be addressed. Moreso, there is an ingenuousness in that programs already used by the industry are stalking clients accounts and emails and pushing product.

F.I.N.R.A. states it is about investor protection. In no particular order, for investor protection:

State in large block letters that FINRA has no oversight of investment clients and investment advisors and that any decision reached in a FINRA DRS can be litigated in a Court of Law

State in large block letters that all settlement agreements signed within the FINRA DRS forum are non binding in that Congress has given no oversight to FINRA of investment clients and investment advisors

Provide client a copy of all account papers once an investment has been accepted as a client by the firm/financial consultant.

Make it mandatory that an investor, at will, can and must be provided a cover-to-cover copy of the investment clients files and all correspondences, profiles etc.

All type fonts/picas including but not limited to disclaimers must be in a print large enough for old people and people with visual disabilities to read with or without glasses

Provide a list of all civil actions by and against the FINRA DRS arbitrators/mediators, members

Provide a list of all complaints in FINRA by and against the FINRA DRS arbitrators/mediators, members

Provide a list of all settlement agreements by and against the FINRA DRS arbitrators/mediators, members

Make each and every FINRA employee and/or DRS participant in a FINRA DRS process aware they are not protected in that FINRA is not a government agency, and that any FINRA Case Manager, Mediator/Arbitrator will be liable for criminal charges of obstruction of justice and or accessory to crimes if they block witnesses, expert witness and production of discovery requested from the FINRA business league member by the investment client complainant.

All lawyers representing clients in an financial SRO forum must provide their Bar number and the Bar number of each and every attorney participating in the DRS forum, in lead attorney or as support staff inclusive of emails, letters, texts, pleadings, faxes, voicemails, and other communications, electronic of otherwise.

Advise investment clients, investment advisors, brokers and dealers that ALL lawyers arguing in a FINRA forum must be licensed in compliance to the local Bar association, that any lawyer arguing in a FINRA forum without being licensed in the local forum cannot collect fees for representing a client.

Advise investment clients, investment advisors, brokers and dealers that ALL lawyers arguing in a FINRA forum without being licensed in compliance with local and state law is to be reported to that lawyers foreign state Bar Association without repercussion to the complainant. Any steps taken directly or indirectly against the complainant to the Bar, will result in criminal charges to that attorney and/or the person through which communications were transmitted, 2nd or 3rd party or otherwise.

A lawyer who threatens a complainant to the attorneys Bar Ethics committee will suffer criminal charges.

All out-of-state lawyers representing clients must either seek and be granted permission to argue in that forum prior to beginning to represent their client in the proceeding or, in the alternative, find a local attorney to turn represent the client. The attorney can seek pro-hac vice. There can be no grey area, representing a client’s interests, even by correspondence, in a state where the attorney is not licensed is practicing law without a license in that state. The attorney practicing law in a foreign state without the proper licensing or submitting Pro Hac Vice is doing so knowing they are accepting the punishing terms their home state has determined in to that state’s bar association.

Advise investment clients, investment advisors, brokers and dealers that ALL lawyers arguing in a FINRA forum must be licensed in compliance to the local Bar association.

FINRA is not a neutral forum. FINRA is a 501 (c )(6), a business league that collects dues from its business league members, the persons/entities that investment clients brought complaints against. Groups like P.I.A.B.A., N.A.S.A.A. themselves are business leagues that, like FINRA are using investment clients misfortunes for the benefit of the group’s membership.

All SRO’s as legislated by Congress to be able to exist, not just the singular SRO FINRA that the SEC has allowed to act as the only SRO,  must publish publicly on their website the names and identities and resumes of all the participating Arbitrators/mediators along with all the arbitrators/mediators decisions, parties, providing a voting record similar to what one would find in the court records as do J.A.M.S., Fed. Arm., WIPO, World Intellectual Property Organization records.

In that F.I.N.R.A. is a business league accepting dues from its members, F.I.N.R.A. is not neutral, is unable since not being a neutral forum to conduct Arbitrations between investment clients, investment advisors and F.I.N.R.A. members. In that F.I.N.R.A. has been conducting arbitrations under false impression that approved by Congress, all arbitrations since 2007 involving investment clients, investment advisors, must be annulled along the investment client the opportunity to take their claim to the proper forum the courts that F.I.N.R.A. blocked, obstructing justice. A F.I.N.R.A. claim that a client made that decision was allowed to be conducted in a F.I.N.R.A. forum is an obstruction of justice, that will not be barred being revisited by any claim of Statue Of Limitations having passed.

Any decision within F.I.N.R.A. that was appealed in the Courts will be given the same consideration of being reviewed and annulled if the matter was presented to the Court as having been arbitrated compliant to the F.A.A., Federal Arbitration Act.

F.I.N.R.A. members are licensed on a state by state license basis which subjects F.I.N.R.A. members to state law, the U.C.C., Universal Commercial Code, not Federal law as F.I.N.R.A. claims its arbitrations are bound by. The F.A.A. is for Maritime issues. The way this is going F.I.N.R.A. is a sinking ship. Maybe maritime law should apply.

FINRA must make sure that each BD/Brokerage provide U4’s that are completed with fingerprints and are signed rather than as exist currently, many are unsigned without fingerprints attached. Fingerprints and signatures are required by law enforcement that are mandatory in determining frauds of forgery and theft

F.I.N.R.A. has two codes of procedure, one code of procedure for its members and one code of procedure for investors. F.I.N.R.A. should not have a code of procedure for investors. Congress’ laws the S.E.C. is supposed to effect are for disputes between brokers and brokerages.

Provide list of all regulators decisions against firm by any agency- FTC, CFTC, IRS, etc

F.I.N.R.A. does not define 3rd parties, not stating, if, for example, the United Nations, Swift, the Egemont Group or others are going to be users of the data.  A public university is just that a public university no different than the university that the Hathi Trust attached itself to for claim of non profit status accessing data, books, from which the Hathi Trust makes money, no different than Stanford University from which the evolving technologies already taking people’s analytics have been developing new product up to and including Alphabet Holdings, a black hole concept that F.I.N.R.A. does not require its dues paying members to declare what is gone on inside the Holdings name. Simply, there is no trail, no accountability for the harmed party.

The proposed periods of time have no bearing in that in a climate of fraud that F.I.N.R.A. has been perpetrating on the investment Main Street is still a climate of fraud. 12 months or 24 months makes no difference. The clients identity is proprietary.

In that the Academic Trace Data provides that elements are to be determined from time to time by FINRA in its discretion, this is a train wreck determined to happen, derailed in F.I.N.R.A.’s favor not for the benefit or gain of the Investment client F.I.N.R.A. uses to achieve its non profit status.

The Academic Trace Data is a thinly disguised existing concept in the tech industry and markets. A horse of a different color will always just be a horse of a  different color as is F.I.N.R.A. still is the NASD running the old end game, at a cost to Main Street.


[1] www.plainlanguage.gov/whatisPL/govmandates/memo.cfm

[2] www.plainlanguage.gov/plLaw/index.cfm

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INTERNATIONAL MONEY MOVEMENT NETWORK SET UP FOR ISLAMIC SHARIAH COMPLIANT FINANCE (c) Carrie Devorah :
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FINRA FORCED ARBITRATION OF INVESTMENT CLIENTS IS A VIOLATION OF THE 10TH AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION RATIFIED 1791                 (c) Carrie Devorah :
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         RATIFIED 1791
"The powers not delegated
to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited
by it to the States, are reserved
to the States, respectively,
or to the people"

Investor arbitration is not an oversight that Congress gave to the S.E.C. Congress gave the S.E.C., Securities and Exchange Commission, oversight of disputes between Brokers and Brokerages through S.R.O.'s the S.E.C. had to approve.

One S.R.O. stands, S.E.C. approved FINRA, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Attempts by others interested in becoming S.R.O.'s have not been permitted.

Investor arbitration is a state by state matter that should be argued under the U.C.C. Universal Commercial Code.

FINRA conducts DRS, Dispute Resolutions between investment clients and investment consultants under the auspice of the FAA, Federal Arbitration Act. The FAA is for Maritime disputes.

Congress wrote the laws beggaring oversight and review. Any wonder the U.S. economy is a sinking ship......

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Forced FINRA Arbitration Is Unconstitutional     (c) Carrie Devorah  :
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FINRA IS NOT AN FAA COMPLIANT FORUM FOR INVESTOR COMPLAINTS TO BE HEARD IN

Puzzled why Arbitration is warp speeding ahead in to lives of Main Street?

Don’t be. Mystery, solved.

Not by choice but by design and plan, arbitration is being slipped in to Technology TOS, Terms of Service, and Wall Street issues, in part, because Judges are setting themselves up for cushy post bench retirements once the Judge disrobes, upping the Justices take home pay from what it was, while on the bench, to four, five times, even more, while they sat, day after day, year after year, decade after decade, waiting for their pension and payout. With arbitration set up for ‘life all the bench’ lawyers themselves up for when, the cash comes rolling in.

Except, Arbitration is unconstitutional. This statement is not up for debate. It is a fact.

As far back as the Magna Carta, every man, and woman, is entitled to their day in Court. This not happening. Along came FINRA. Forced arbitration are taking place without the man or woman knowing, contract or contract, the Right the citizen is being denied. Forced arbitration is criminal. Those forcing forced arbitration down citizens throats are, in the least, conspiratorial, and, as it is appearing in the Financial Forum, legally illiterate.

US Attorneys, attempting to wade through the wheat and chaff of federal legal oversight of Arbitrations conducted by SRO’s looking to see whose law governs, are confIicted with State, Local and Federal Laws that don’t match.

One fact is clear, there are no Federal Laws governing what makes a Forum legal, compliant to host Arbitrations. There are no State Laws. There are no local laws. There is no law required, no License, required to run an Arbitration business. There is an Act, the FAA, Federal Arbitration Act. That is all there is, just an Act.

And then there is FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Don’t know who they are? If you are an investor, you will learn when someone tells you an agreement was signed with your broker/brokerage/or Investment advisor to resolve your dispute within a FINRA arbitration. Except that is not always the case. Count on the FINRA Case manager to not make sure all I’s are dotted or T’s crossed in the processing of an Investors’ complaint. And if there is a problem? Do be sure, FINRA will find one reason or another to explain FINRA’s actions away as to why the Investor is wrong and FINRA right. Forget about the FINRA 88 page manual, FINRA trained arbitrators are to have read and be guided by.

All that said, there are two points that are indisputable. 1- FINRA is a dues paying member league.  2- Investors are not dues paying members of FINRA. Arbitrators trained by a dues paying membership follow the By Laws, Rules and Codes of Procedures of the SRO.

The Federal Arbitration Act states that FAA compliant arbitrations must be neutral. FINRA conducts Arbitrations between Investors and Industry professionals.

The SRO, self regulated organization, operating under its own By Laws, Rules and Code of Procedures cannot, by definition, be neutral. How does this travesty come to be? How does one explain FINRA overseeing Arbitrations with Investors suing Brokers and Brokerages, or, better yet, how does one explain the overwhelming Arbitrations that FINRA runs through FINRA ADR, in every state, in almost 70 American cities, and in MoU, Memorandums of Understanding with foreign countries- including but not limited to, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and England.

One cant, explain that is. Few, try to. There is alot of ranting, on the Street, railing against FINRA for being a Kangaroo Court without much change being accomplished. That is changing. FINRA President Linda Feinberg announced she is retiring.

Coincidence to revelations coming forth. These matters are only revealed under duress of litigation.

An email from FINRA General Counsel Terri Reicher that sorted, rubic cubed, a bunch of data in to one solid six sided cube, confirming FINRA is many things. Con is the first word that comes to mind. Reicher addressed FINRA’s award letter providing 30 days within which to submit a valid reason for non payment of an award.

Reicher wrote, addressing FINRA’s By-Law, Article VI, Section 3, “The By-Law in question permits FINRA to suspend the licenses of firms and associated persons who fail to pay an arbitration award, unless they present a valid reason for not paying the award. The By-Law does not apply to [investors] because [investors] are not a firm or associated person subject to FINRA’s regulatory jurisdiction.  You do not hold a securities license that FINRA could suspend.”

Two sets of standards for Arbitration participants is not FAA compliant. Two sets of standards, a get-out-of-jail-card-free pass to one participant only, the SRO member, is not FAA compliant. That is a con, that FINRA has got away with for years. There is no explanation for how this detail was not addressed before, publicly and loudly.

The definition of neutral is “not helping or supporting either side in a conflict, disagreement, etc.; impartial. The definition of neutral is “not helping or supporting either side in a conflict, disagreement, etc.; impartial. The definition of neutral is same rule(s) for all parties.

FINRA is an SRO, self regulated organization. FINRA is a non profit but not a non profit in the way most people would think. The IRS has 29 categories of eligible non profit status. FINRA’s non profit status is Business League, a league that is required to have members paying dues.


There is no neutrality in a forum where Arbitrators are trained by the Business league, IRS non profit set up with the mission statement “to protect investors.” There is no protecting investors in a forum, defined in FINRA’s own By Laws, Rules and Codes of Procedures, to resolve issues between Brokers and Brokerages. Investment advisors are not in that equation. Nor are investors.

Congress needs a refresher in laws- there are local laws, state laws, federal laws and then there is FINRA. FINRA’s has its own By Laws, Rules and Code of Procedures.

Don’t be surprised if not too many know what or who FINRA is. They should. If they are part of a union, have a pension or invest under oversight or on their own, they will, sooner or later, cross paths with FINRA. By then? It will be too late.

FINRA claims to be conducting 99% of Investor arbitrations, no magic feat when FINRA is receiving suspiciously high keyword search results, consistently ranking top of the page, if not all of the page, even.  

Congress is at fault for this alarming trend. Bad laws passed after listening to the same old witnesses, from organizations, year after year, helps Investors understand why things, laws, are not changing, for the Investor’s benefit, that is.

FINRA is not the only DRS/ADR hosting entity. There is JAMS, FedARb and local Bar associations, too. An investors using an Investment Advisor is supposed to be sent, according to FINRA’s By Laws, Rules and Code of Procedure, to a local court or other Arbitration forum.

Spokespersons for the AAA, JAMS and DC Bar stated they do not require lawyers, arguing before them representing clients to produce their bar card. Explanation given, the entities presume the attorney is licensed and truthful about their status to represent Clients and get paid for their time.

A matter that is processed through District Court, is on the public record. A matter that is processed through FINRA is not on the public record. A matter processed through FINRA is off the grid, away from the Public radar. The matter before a FINRA panel, most likely will never hit the Big Time. Investors will be challenged in learning the real truth of their Investment advisor, putting shame to the system officers of the court.

The District of Columbia, by way of example, has another ‘balance and check’, Rule 49. Rule 49 allows for exceptions. One exception, DC’s Rule 49 allows for is 5 arbitrations. Congress must ask itself how will DC know if a lawyer has participated in 5 or 50 FINRA arbitrations.  FINRA  does not make public what takes place within the confines of FINRA’s SRO forum. No one will ever know. FINRA will know. FINRA will never tell. FINRA’s got a good scam going for itself, protecting FINRA’s members from the Investing public.

There is one option only for this Congress to do. Pass some more laws, laws that protect the Investing public.

1-    Congress must require Arbitration and Mediation site hosts be licensed as a profession both in local, state and under federal oversight

2-    The law(s) Congress passes requiring licensing of Arbitration and Mediation site hosts must work in tandem, each with the other. The laws must not fight each other or cancel each other out

3-    Congress must require lawyers to write their Bar number every place the lawyer’s signature appears to confirm that a lawyer seeking payment for his services from his client is licensed in the jurisdiction the lawyer is appearing in;

4-    An out of state lawyer must state, under penalty of perjury, how many arbitrations the lawyer has argued, along with where and when.

5-    In fact, the jurisdiction, not the forum, should provide the lawyer with a stamp card that is stamped for each arbitration the attorney conducted, sort of like a Rewards Card coffee drinkers get stamped excepting a full card of 5 does not get a reward. A full card of f

6-    Congress must require Arbitration hosts ie. Local Bar associations etc, to research each lawyer participating as an Arbitration or lawyer in an arbitration panel to be researched online to document the attorney licences is active, if alleging to be an attorney

7-    Congress cant leave protection of the public up to Judges and lawyers. If Judges and lawyers were all compliant then there would not be a Code of Ethics for each, respectively, to succumb to.

8-    Congress must require all attorneys in an arbitration to have their law card Xeroxed to be kept on file in the state the attorney is representing a client in- payment or no payment.

9-    Congress must require every forum hosting arbitrations to comply with state, federal and local regulations

10-          Congress must assure that local, state and federal laws are in cooperation not in conflict, that there should be no need to research or interpret the law. 

11-          The attorneys representing clients in FINRA arbitrations, and others, must write their Bar number beside their name, on all pages the attorney signs.

12-          Attorneys must sign any and all correspondences including the attorneys Bar Card Number, prominent, on the paper. Listen, a bit of bunkhouse logic, if an attorney doesn’t write their Bar Number next to their name? Count your fingers after shaking their hand. You may just have been using an attorney who shaves facts and details.

13-          Then, the SRO must turn in to the local Bar, a list of all arbitrations the SRO conducted the week prior, the names of the out of state attorney, along with the out of state attorney’s bar number and the jurisdiction the attorney is licensed in, allegedly, until that fact is vetted.

And that is how Investors will know the Forum their own lawyer brought a dispute to has oversight with or, at a detriment to the Investing public or Technology User..

Congress has to got to get take back the Investors right to be heard in a Court of laws amongst a jury of their peers. Congress has got to make accountability easy for the US Attorney to know when an out0fot0wn attorney is trying to pull a quickie. 


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COMMENT:  SEC PROXY VOTING ROUNDTABLE  (c) Carrie Devorah  :
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That the United States Securities & Exchange Commission will address technology as a way to “provide better access to information” is ill timed and mind boggling in a year of Flash Trading, unexplained highs and lows, and reporting on $300 million to over a billion hacked from banks around the world, not to forget, Bernard Maddoff, and team, convictions for digitally altering client accounts along with Spoilation and Recreation of client accounts.

The Internet is not a forum to replace good old fashioned paper and pen ballots with. The Internet is a forum in which Identities are “replaced” with fraudulent, untraceable recreations or creations of Identity moreso with the advent of TOR project, Underground Railroad, Silkroad and other software funded by the State Department, used in impacting overseas politics.

Moreso, in light of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission, SEC, accepting from FINRA, under contract for no payment, FINRA’s expunged histories of complaints against Brokers-Dealers, Brokerages, Investment and other advisors, currently called “Financial Consultants”, it is ballistic even inconceivable to consider how the SEC is not stepping back to a world of original signatures, original document preservation that will improve Retail Shareholder trust in the SEC’s broken system.

FINRA is an SRO. FINRA is not THE ONLY SRO. The SEC Investors Act allows for potential of multiple SRO’s to create competition not FINRA’s monopoly.

To be more correct, there should be no SRO’s to address Retail Customer complaints of alleged Financial Crimes, when it comes to Retail Customer fund management. The SEC should close down FINRA, barr creation of future SRO’s and, to create Retail Customer trust for participation, tell Retail Customers to go to the police, to Law Enforcement when crimes are suspected in Client’s accounts. After all, when you suspect someone stole your wallet, do you go to the wallet industry SRO or to the police.

That is a duhhh factor, for the Retail Shareholder, unaware that the FINRA history of a Brokers-Dealers, Brokerages, Investment and other advisors, currently called “Financial Consultants”, may be a myth emanating from                                                                                                                                                     
(i) claims against Industry unreported to FINRA or even on the U4                                                                                      
(ii) removed from the U4 without FINRA having caught that removal               
(iii) FINRA not acting upon this disclosure of the removal without following FINRA’s own protocol being followed                                                                    
(iv) FINRA requiring confidentiality agreements to be signed before the Complainant customer receives penny on the dollars of the claim to be returned                                                                                                                     
(v) FINRA requiring the Complainant customer to agree to expunge, delete, from the Industry Respondents history before the Complainant customer receives penny on the dollars of the claim to be returned 

Retail customers will slowly build Trust with Wall Street only when Financial Industry Wall Street crimes are reported to Law Enforcement who in turn reports these crimes to FINCEN who in turn builds a proper database of Financial Crimes.

Retail customers will slowly build Trust with Wall Street only when Financial Industry Wall Street Criminals are processed through the transparent Court system instead of being hidden in FINRA’s “vegas” of a DRS system where ‘what takes place in FINRA stays in FINRA’ continually putting Retail Customers at risk. Just watch the TV show “American Greed.”

Retail customers will slowly build Trust with Wall Street when a Retail Customer can look up in a Civil, Criminal database if the Industry crime/criminal not reported by FINRA to law enforcement has a criminal background, rap sheet, fingerprinted, and loses the same civil liberties the Retail Customer would lose for stealing a loaf a bread let alone life savings and sums in to the millions.

The Internet, unless the SEC, is an Ostrich with its head in the ground in a world of daily hacks and cyber blackmail being disclosed- Sony, Banks and customer accounts- is not a place through which to trust. That said, for Retail shareholder participation to start to be rebuilt                                                                                            
(i) get rid of any and all SRO’s                                                                   
(ii) remove forced arbitration                                                                                                                                                       
(iii) replace forced arbitration with Forced reporting crimes to police, the Wall Street version, currently lacking of “See Something Say Something”

One other recommendation for the SEC to build Retail Shareholder trust and towards building Retail Shareholder participation is to create a Citizen Seat on the SEC Advisory council, someone not a CEO of a major corporation, someone not former industry, not a wonk, not a pundit, not a lobbyist, now a lawyer, a real person to sit there holding all others accountable to the real world experience of Wall Street v Main Street through personal experience. I want to be that person. Hint.

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LORETTA LYNCH’S NOMINATION HINGES ON CODE OF LAWYER RESPONSIBILITY… (c) Carrie Devorah :
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Loretta Lynch’s nomination as US Attorney General is nothing about minutia. Loretta’s nomination hinges on Ms. Lynch being a lawyer operating under a Code Of Professional Responsibility. It’s not rocket science. It’s like being a little bit pregnant. Either someone is pregnant or they are not.

Either Ms. Lynch has upheld conducted herself under New York state Code Of Professional Responsibility or not. Yes? Thumbs up. No? Thumbs down, next, when it comes to weighing the nomination of an individual sworn to enforce the Law, when Oaths are taken along the way, and sworn to. This same benchmark applies to lawyers who become Presidents, beggaring the question, is this individual compliant with Oaths sworn to along their way.

That said, with Congress, too often, filled with lawyers warming hearing benches, and Judges, to be reminded, if their law licenses are active, alot is at stake for them, too.

Law is about Ethics not rhetoric. Congress is increasingly moreso about rhetoric not ethics nor about thinking versus tweeting.

Let’s do Loretta, here. Let us approach her nomination on an even playing field, not upon what is written online, or isn’t.

Ms. Lynch is a New York lawyer. New York lawyers are guided by Rules of Ethics, as is Attorney Eric Holder, guided by Rules of Ethics, in his case DC law, having moved from being a DC Judge in to Top Dog seat at the Department of Justice.

Ms. Lynch, as a lawyer, is answerable to 74 pages of New York Lawyer’s Code of Professional Responsibility (Updated Through December 28, 2007) (http://www.nysba.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=26638)

Pages 1-4 adress the Canons:

CANON 1. A LAWYER SHOULD ASSIST IN MAINTAINING THE INTEGRITY AND COMPETENCE OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION…………….. 8

CANON 2. A LAWYER SHOULD ASSIST THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN FULFILLING ITS DUTY TO MAKE LEGAL COUNSEL AVAILABLE ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 16

CANON 3. A LAWYER SHOULD ASSIST IN PREVENTING THE UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW ………………………………………….. 39

CANON 4. A LAWYER SHOULD PRESERVE THE CONFIDENCES AND SECRETS OF A CLIENT……………………………………….. 41

CANON 5. A LAWYER SHOULD EXERCISE INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT ON BEHALF OF A CLIENT…………………………………………………………………………………………

CANON 6 A LAWYER SHOULD REPRESENT A CLIENT COMPETENTLY…………………………………………………………………………………..

CANON 7 A LAWYER SHOULD REPRESENT A CLIENT ZEALOUSLY WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE LAW…………………………….. 56

CANON 8. A LAWYER SHOULD ASSIST IN IMPROVING THE LEGAL SYSTEM …………………………………………………………………………. 68

CANON 9. A LAWYER SHOULD AVOID EVEN THE APPEARANCE OF PROFESSIONAL IMPROPRIETY……………………………. 70

THE PREAMBLE says “ The continued existence of a free and democratic society depends upon recognition of the concept that justice is based upon the rule of law grounded in respect for the dignity of the individual and the capacity of the individual through reason for enlightened self-government. Law so grounded makes justice possible, for only through such law does the dignity of the individual attain respect and protection. Without it, individual rights become subject to unrestrained power, respect for law is destroyed, and rational self-government is impossible.

Lawyers, as guardians of the law, play a vital role in the preservation of society. The fulfillment of this role requires an understanding by lawyers of their relationship with and function in our legal system. A consequent obligation of lawyers is to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct. In fulfilling professional responsibilities, a lawyer necessarily assumes various roles that require the performance of many difficult tasks. Not every situation which the lawyer may encounter can be foreseen, but fundamental ethical principles are always present for guidance. Within the framework of these principles, a lawyer must with courage and foresight be able and ready to shape the body of the law to the ever-changing relationships of society. The Code of Professional Responsibility points the way to the aspiring and provides standards by which

to judge the transgressor. Each lawyer’s own conscience must provide the touchstone against which to test the extent to which the lawyer’s actions should rise above minimum standards. But in the last analysis it is the desire for the respect and confidence of the members of the profession and of the society which the lawyer serves that should provide to a lawyer the incentive for the highest possible degree of ethical conduct. The possible loss of that respect and confidence is the ultimate sanction. So long as its practitioners are guided by these principles, the law will continue to be a noble profession. This is its greatness and its strength, which permit of no compromise.”

The PRELIMINARY STATEMENT states, “The Code of Professional Responsibility consists of three separate but interrelated parts: Canons, Ethical Considerations, and Disciplinary Rules. The Code is designed to be both an inspirational guide to the members of the profession and a basis for disciplinary action when the conduct of a lawyer falls below the required minimum standards stated in the Disciplinary Rules… A lawyer should ultimately be responsible for the conduct of the lawyer’s employees and associates in the course of the professional representation of the client.”

A case being circulated against Ms. Lynch’s nomination is being approached from one POV, point of view. There is another consideration of approach to be taken far more seriously, off focus of this man. The system. Not this man. The question. How did this man come to be even of issue? Who allowed him and people like him to happen. Recall what Bernie Madoff said, they knew.

There is a legal concept called Respondeat Superior, top dog liability. As top legal beagle in New York, as a lawyer, it was/is Ms. Lynch’s responsibility to protect Main Street, knowingly or unknowingly isn’t even debatable here. The line Main Street gets from law enforcement is Ignorance of the law isn’t an allowable excuse. Even to Ms. Lynch. And, to Legislators arguing Wall Street in the House and the Senate.

Five letters. FINRA. Three letters. SRO.

The application of those eight, 8, letters here is that Ms. Lynch’s office, along with other US Attorney offices across the country have allowed Financial Crime to continue, harming Main Street. Quick tutorial. Watch the television show AMERICAN GREED. Then, next, recall what Bernie Madoff said, THEY KNEW. They? The company he worked for. FINRA.

It wasn’t until Madoff’s crimes hit the desk of an attorney, somewhere, did these crimes, repeated throughout Wall Street on unsuspecting Main Street, hit the news. Bad US Attorney. Someone should have figured this din of thieving out a lot sooner.

FINRA is a self regulating organization, which means spit. As a self-regulating organization FINRA writes By-laws, Rules and Codes of Procedure FINRA purports to bind its members too. Members? Yes. As an IRS non-profit category BUSINESS LEAGUE, same category as Chambers and football leagues, FINRA members pay FINRA money to belong. FINRA members are Brokers and Brokerages, not Investment Advisors and, most clearly, not Investors. Somehow for decades, FINRA and its predecessor the NASD, hornswaggled Investors in to believing (a) complaints against the Financial Consultant had to be addressed in FINRA arbitration/mediation and (b) that once addressed within FINRA arbitration that (i) a confidentiality agreement had to be signed so the matter was not discussed (ii) to get payment of pennies on the dollar of the stolen funds back that the Investor had to sign an agreement to have the Investors theft matter, expunged.

Expunged? Deleted. Gone. Disappear. Vamoosed. Nada. Never took place. And that is how Bernie Madoff got away with his crime, in New York for as long has he did. This is the point Ms. Lynch is accountable for, being US Attorney from 1999 – 2001 and from 2010 to present date.

It is Ms. Lynch’s Respondeat Superior to have known Financial Crimes are being expunged by FINRA without even being reported to the police. FINRA is not law enforcement. FINRA is an SRO, a self regulated organization.

Ms. Lynch’s administration did/is not issuing Alerts to Investors to file Theft/money-identity reports with the Investors local police, as their Step One. Ms. Lynch’s, and other US Attorney Generals know that without reports of Crimes being made that there cannot be an effective, fact filled data base at FINCEN, in DC.

Ms. Lynch’s administration has not sued FINRA on behalf of New York Investors conned by the Bernie Madoffs, putting FINRA out of business as an Accessory to Crimes, covering crimes and even, one could say, masquerading as Law Enforcement.

In one matter, FINRA determined there was no wrongdoing when documents detail a decade of Identity Theft, Money Theft and Digital Trespassing, even Spoilation of Documents. Gets better, the name of an employee of JP Morgan is all over 800+ PDFs that FINRA determined would not be passed forward to law enforcement. THESE crimes take place daily, damaging to the bottom line fiscal health of Main Streeters. This is a question Ms. Lynch must answer to. “I didn’t know” is not the answer. In fact, that these behaviours continue to infect, is a disqualifier to Ms. Lynch’s nomination. But it gets better.

FINRA is not a forum for Investors within which to adress complaints against Investment Advisors. Yet, someone FINRA does mislead Investors in to believing FINRA is the forum to adjudicate this matter. Ms. Lynch should have caught this, and, most important, Ms. Lynch should have caught the fact that FINRA, aside from being a forum for Brokers and Brokerage disputes, should not be conducting Arbitrations, period. Arbitration disputes are to be compliant with the FAA, the Federal Arbitration Act. The FAA requires the host forum to be neutral. In that FINRA, is collecting dues from its members, and Investors are not FINRA members, this alone is something Ms. Lynch should have known, taking steps to shut down all FINRA locations in New York state, and, well, yup, put people taking part in this con in jail, from the ground floor to the penthouse suite. Like police officers tell drivers exceeding the speed limit hidden by a tree branch in front of the sign, “Ignorance is no excuse…, you should have known.”

Ms. Lynch, even Eric Holder should know.

You see if Ms. Lynch had been doing her job, officers on the beat would have been too busy to bother with Eric Garner. Ask ten cops…. Given the choice between the perp on the street or a financial white collar criminal like Bernie Madoff or the dozens upon dozens of Fiduciary Robbery stories filling the news and shows like American Greed, which the officer would rather pursue? The cops answer in a heartbeat. They would the Big Cons, so technically, in a way, by ignoring FINRA and the Criminals FINRA covers up for, one could say, as Respondeat Superior, Ms. Lynch had a hand in Eric Garner’s death.

There are the lawyers filling FINRA offices across America that Ms. Lynch should be looking in to, Lawyers representing Claimants and Lawyers representing Respondents and even Lawyers serving as Arbitrators and Mediators in FINRA DRS forums. As officers of the Court, they are required to uphold laws they are bound to in their state of Licensing or, the State the Lawyer argues a case before FINRA without being licensed in that State.

How these Lawyers get away with these crimes is simple. No one checks. No one in FINRA makes the Lawyer document to the State the FINRA matter is being argued, first by mail/email/fax with FINRA case managers in Boca Raton, Florida. No one in the State of Arbitration requires lawyers to affix their Bar Number to a paper, mitigating incidents of practicing law without licenses.

No one addresses that fact that forced Arbitration has become the shoe horn FINRA and its dues paying members use to wedge Investor complaints in to FINRA’s forum, something best looked at as being a Vegas environment- what goes on in FINRA, stays in FINRA- again, aiding to abetting Crimes not being reported to FINCEN and local Law Enforcement or US Attorneys across the United States of America, the jurisdiction Ms. Lynch will be overseeing if Ms. Lynch’s nomination goes through.

The US Constitution guarantees every man his day in Court. Somewhere along the way, a judge or group of them got together to create their Golden Parachute Post Retirement, called Arbitration. Arbitrations hide data. FINCEN needs data to understand Crimes hurting Main Street.

FINRA does not release names of its Arbitrators to the Public. FINRA does not report the Arbitration ruling records of its Arbitrators to the Public. FINRA does not release a data base of award sizes either. In a world where Google has everyone’s lives on line, somehow one wishes Edward Snowden or Anonymous would release this data hidden from the public, data that would be published publicly if that matter had been allowed to be adjudicated in the Halls of Justice.

Ms. Lynch’s redemption can be in promising to shut FINRA down, to offer Main Street investors their opportunity to have their matters undone to receive the Justice denied. Ms. Lynch’s redemption would be in holding accountable FINRA involved Parties to the same standard of Main Street.

Ms. Lynch’s redemption can be in apologizing. “I didn’t know” isn’t acceptable. Stating “I failed you” is, along with taking steps against lawyers who misled Investment clients in to FINRA forums the lawyers knew their Client should never had been in.

Oh, there is one more thing, Ms. Lynch might address, using the New York Committee overseeing lawyers as her homecourt example. A person bringing a complaint against a New York lawyer is not protected by a Whistle Blower kind of law. A person reporting a New York lawyer must be given Privacy, Invisibility while the Complaint is being addressed, reserving their option of being named publicly, if the Department determines merit to the Complaint. The New York Committee immediately sends the name and contact information of the Complainant to the lawyer, exposing the Complainant to blackmail, threats even extortion by the lawyer. Allegedly, no such protection exists in the oversight written by the New York State of Appeals. Ms. Lynch should have picked up on this along time earlier, knowing that exposing Whistle Blowers will give Complainants pause to say nothing. Nada. Never.

Ms. Lynch is bound to the same Code of Ethics as all other New York and American lawyers, as is Eric Holder bound by DC Ethics, as a lawyer, in issues such as Fast and Furious (http://www.dcbar.org/bar-resources/legal-ethics/amended-rules/index.cfm) . It is by these standard Ms. Lynch’s nomination should be judged. Not on minutia. Respondeat Superior.

Minutia can be distracting. Stick to the facts. Stick to the laws Professional licenses are issued under. The domino effect is tremendous upon lawyers in the field, getting the message Lawyers are not bound to their Codes of Ethics. Law students will get the message crime does pay. And Main Street will walk away stating, ‘we knew it all the time.’ Law is theater where the best performance wins.

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CONGRESS APPROVING WALL STREET DERIVATIVES FORECASTS ANOTHER CRASH & A VIRTUAL ROBBERY A’ COMING (c) Carrie Devorah:
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There has been a slow movement behind the scenes, an agenda pushed in to online “homes” by FINRA to move brokers, brokerages and Investment Advisors who FINRA does not have oversight of, homes meaning websites, social media and all other sorts of personas the Financial Industry can come up with each day.

A good thing?

NO!!!

A bad thing? Is that even a question to ask during a time that new and more and unexplainable, untraceable online robberies are taking place. As if flash trading was not enough of a headache for the American industry and commerce (and still not explained) with the cause of the 2008 crash still not 100% understood other than the visual of the head of the banking system allegedly falling to his knees in front of legislators begging for TARP, it is going to happen again.

Guaranteed.

TARP money went everywhere even to foreign nations asking for bailouts. TARP money was not going so fast to Main Street, devastating more each day as another former employer goes online or robotic making workers not needed.

FINRA has a credibility problem. More correctly, FINRA has an identity problem, few know what FINRA is. Fewer know that FINRA is part of their lives even though they may not be investors. Pensions. Unions. Trusts. Managed money? You are involved with FINRA. Be afraid. Be real afraid. FINRA covers up criminal activity.

On the streets, taking money deceitfully would be reported to the police. FINRA a gatekeeper for brokers, brokerages and Investment advisors that FINRA does not have oversight of, covers reported crimes and bad behaviours up, doesn’t report allegations of Financial Crimes to local law enforcement, the only entity with oversight of local crimes. If someone took your wallet, you would call the police. If someone steals your hard earned invested money, you don’t know you can go to the police. You are told you have no choice but to go to Arbitration, contract obligating you to Arbitration or not. You are not told to go to the police. In fact, you are told if FINRA determines a criminal behavior that FINRA will contact enforcement for you.

It seems FINRA, in one known instance, does not consider hacking an account at another brokerage a crime.

The crash that is coming will be furthered by online not facilitating records being kept. Online records disappear in seconds. The usual excuse is ‘computer crash’ even in these days of it being known the ISP’s, and the NSA, keep ‘everything’. Except FINRA doesn’t seem to know that, promoting that CRD’s and IARDs, when expunged, are gone forever.

No. And that is the saving grace, maybe.

You see, expunging, allowed by Congress for special circumstances, is now as routine for FINRA and financial industry brokerages, as changing their mind or their underwear, I guess, which ever can be more downright dirty. Hiding criminal backgrounds from being determined by law enforcement is dastardly. Unconscionable is proving that data to local regulators and the SEC that rely on the veracity of FINRA’s representations, these men and women with sanitized backgrounds are people of honor to entrust life savings to.

No, they aren’t.

Nor is FINRA, a profit making, stock containing entity that, despite having an investor “non-profit” too few investors know about, an entity to trust, least of all with FINRA pushing to put more of its dues paying members on line with data that is purged, changed, unseen in a world that even the robbers of Sony’s data cannot be found.

Why, Congress, why….. or is that a question that does not need answering.

Here it is, no Legislator who does not answer questions about FINRA correctly without a millennial staffer tweeting them crib notes, has the right or authority to vote on any SEC-Wall Street matter put before them. Can we say “late Senator Frank Lautenberg?” Lautenberg got Madoffed. Madoff said, “they knew.”

And when the market crashes, again, who will they blame? Hmmmm- China, Korea, Russia- but not Wall Street insiders who will be laughing all the way to the Bitcoin Virtual vault….

No, not joking. Not at all.

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CONGRESS IS CULPABLE FOR THE CRIME AGAINST BARBARA ANN FINN
(c) Carrie Devorah :
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Barbara Ann Finn fought 50 years to have her record expunged. Barbara, a retired government worker missed a job opportunity. 50 years earlier Barbara Ann Finn was taken in to custody along with a friend. The friend was charged with shoplifting. Barbara Ann was let go. Something about a "box" came back to haunt her for 50 long years.

Felony, ever been convicted of one?   [  ]   Barbara Ann Finn didnt know someone checked her in. Congress is trying to get Barbara Ann Finn and other low levels out of the box. Congress must, to be fair, make sure that box as people who belonging in it, facing the box, too. Problem is, the SEC and FINRA are making sure that wont happen. The SEC complicit? Yes, yup. Fer sure. The SEC accepts tainted data from FINRA. FINRA expunges, makes bad information go away, forever from investment industry persons backgrounds. And sometimes, FINRA doesnt even know that info disappeared. The Rules, werent followed. FINRA is too big and too overwhelmed with Internet crimes/complaints, FINRA never saw it coming. Or, when The Rules, arent followed, going.

Time for change.

And then a job opportunity came along. And went.

The job wasn’t a great shakes job like handling money, people’s life savings or such. The job Barbara applied for was being a part-time cafeteria worker. Barbara didn’t survive the background check.

The way things work is that local jurisdictions send arrest records to the National Criminal History Record File. Arrest records can be removed. There is a process. The FBI must be notified. And therein lies a rub.
 
Not every crime is reported to the FBI. Not every crime is written up in an arrest record. Not every crime is written up in a police report or with a Field Interview card. There are crimes that are phantom crimes. These crimes will never exist. Like Crimes that come before FINRA for arbitration. Once expunged, gone forever. Delete. Click. Absolved. Clean slate. More crimes to committ. Rinse. Repeat. FINRA. Arbitration. Expunge. Gone forever. Clean slate. Rinse. Repeat. PIABA says some criminals are shown to have done the same crime 30-40 times. Expunged. Gone forever.

Not for Barbara Ann Finn. No crime. Guilty for 50 years.... and then there is Miriam Moskowitz.

Miriam sought to get her convition of conspiring to obstruct justice in the pre-trial scrum leading up to the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Atomic Spying trial. Miriam was convicted. That was in the early 1950's. Age 98, Miriam sought to have new evidence reconsidered, before she died. 98 doesnt mean Miriam has too much time left. The Judge said no. Too bad Miriam wasnt a FINRA overseen broker or brokerage or a financial advisor alleging to be a broker. Miriam would have walked scot free decades ago.

Congress is complicit in these miscarriages of justice. Congress makes the laws, you see. Sometimes badly. Sometimes with a peronderance of the legal deck being stacked for those who stand to gain. That does not include the little guy. Or gal.

Look, anyone who knows Congress knows that Legislators rotate in and out every two years, technically. Some members leaver sooner, under special circumstances. Some members leave feet first or shortly before, they stay that long. Congress is complicit because Congress writes the laws, Congress creates Commissions and agencies. And, confusion, too. Sometimes laws overlap or even cancel themselves out.

Congress did create the SEC. The SEC? Well, it does have a job description, a lot of Commissioners, a lot of staff, offices around the country, and investigators, too. Oh yes, lawyers. Cant forget lawyers. But you know the SEC is doing such a bang up job, the SEC needed to create yet another office within, the SEC OIF, office of Inspector General. OIG’s offices are to whom complaints about SEC employees are sent. Not quite sure who the watchdog for the SEC and the SEC OIG is other than the FBI and the Secret Service. Yep, goes without saying there is some SEC backscratching going on, and, it goes without saying again that there are SEC employees, committee advisory people et al who are appointed which means, yep, they knew someone who knew someone or……

The inarguable point is that matters under SEC advisorship are getting worse. Sure, there is an explanation- SRO’s, self regulating advisories and/or business leagues that have the system worked out so well the con is ingrained before it ever hits the streets. That is how grifters work. And that is how people get played.

So, Barbara’s alleged criminal record could not be found. FIFTY friggin’ year later Barbara Ann Finn finally got her name cleared, all the while, another class of criminals continue to walk free, robbing again and again. Barbara Finn was represented by the Philadelphia Lawyers For Social Equity’s Criminal Record Expungement Project executive director Michael Lee. Mr. Lee’s next step for Barbara Ann is getting the matter erased off the Pennsylvania State Police’s record. That is no easy feat with footsteps deep in to Barbara Ann’s driving record, credit reports, etc and, in an information age that is wrongfully violating Privacy selling Identity Data on line, Barbara Ann may never really shake this puppy, ever. Somewhere, someone will have that data. Barbara Ann wont know until it rears its ugly head again.

CAP, the Center For American Progress issued a report blames technology for people with or without real rap sheets re-entering society. CAP, formerly run by President Obama’s Chief of Staff John Podesta wants low level crime records sealed.

Bad call. Make it criminal to sell Person’s data, online. That is human trafficking. Make it illegal to convert public records containing private individuals data and images into a commodity that can be bought and sold. Remember the most hottest Mug Shot  Man ever? Gorgeous or not, his Right of Publicity and Privacy were violated.

The next step to take is to address the real inequality and the law(s) being broken by SRO’s that overstepped their roles taking on the role of Judge, Jury and Law Enforcement.

SRO’s, self-regulating organizations most often define their status as non-profits. The IRS has 29 categories of non-profits.

Back off the IRS. The IRS is not accountable for papers the IRS received from applicants. The IRS reviews paperwork submitted to them by the party requesting non-profit status. The IRS does take proactive steps when it is brought to the IRS attention questionability as to the non-profit entitlement to IRS non-profit status.

FINRA, Financial Industries Regulatory Association was granted business league status by the IRS.

Like many SRO’s, complaints received about members, are routed to the SRO personnel. The SRO personnel, rightly or wrongly, may sit on the complaint, deem no wrong doing was done. End of story. The SRO does not provide, typically, the complainant with the answer from the SRO member. A brush off is given. Most people walk away.

The issue is SRO staff are not trained law enforcement or determinants of abuse. Even if the SRO staffer had a background in law enforcement, in that job, the SRO personnel are not the police. Nor do the SRO staff advise complainants to contact police, file a police report. That is and should be step one. That is and should be the beginning of catching the Financial Industry in multiple crimes, heard about only if one watches American Greed or if the crime makes the six o’clock news like Madoff did.

How can it be that if someone steals your wallet you call the police but if someone steals your life savings you are told to call FINRA where the crime disappears behind a wall of secrecy. No stats. No mug shots. Forced to sign a shut-up-if-you-want-to-get-your-pennies-back-on-your-investment document with the threat of being sued if that confidentiality is breached.

The thing about cons is, big dollar or small, they are almost always repeat offenders, doing the crime time and again without redemption.

A caller in to CSPAN said she was jailed a day and a half for driving without a seatbelt on. She is now a felon, mug shot and all. Cops didn’t know she had a history of violations as she drive past them down the street, until the cops pulled her over. Her felony will show up in background checks. She cant afford a lawyer to expunge this day and a half of hell. Anyone will see her record. She will forever be under surveillance. Her rights will have been diminished, identified for life and eternally because information on the Internet lives forever.

Wall Street? No mug shots. No police notification of the crime. So no database. Yes, ask PIABA about Wall Street crime repeat offenders data being denied lawyers wanting to see how many priors the Financial criminal has in their past.

The Wall Street criminal is not locked away, not traumatized by jail, not punished, in fact they are rewarded with their lavish lifestyle from ill gotten gains. No felony record. Background check comes up clean. No public shaming. No accountability. No stats of the size, frequency and demographics of the crime.

Congress writes the laws that let this miscarriage of justice happen to Barbara Ann Finn and the latina who spent one and a half days in jail.

This is wrong, very wrong. Congress has this issue all wrong. The issue is not about sealing low level crimes but about making sure the large crimes and criminals are made public, too. This issue is about Stats- field interviews not being conducted, police reports not being filled out, and records not being provided to the National Criminal History Record file by all not just FINRA arbitration and mediation host sites, mediators and arbitrators and with the Arbitration and Mediation industry not being regulated.

Until such time Congress writes laws that shut down SROs ignoring Criminal Laws, failing to require complainants to first file a police report, until such time there are not going to be true stats of White Collar crimes taking place on Wall Street. Rewind, until such time the NASD and FINRA, the CFTC, NASAA, SIFMA, the list goes on and on, local regulators are forced to un-expunge all data expunged from Brokers, Brokerages and Investment Advisors… here are not going to be true stats of White Collar crimes taking place on Wall Street.

Oh yeah, until, also, the criminals that set this intricate crime up understand they are not above the law.

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BLAME FINRA FOR ERIC GARNER's DEATH (c) Carrie Devorah :
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Covering up crime is a crime moreso when officers are being distracted from looking at big dollar crimes Business leagues don't want public conversation. But they are. More rumor mill than anything, beggaring how the rumors continued without being aired. There is an explanation, Wall Street's consigliore, FINRA.

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Association,  makes sure Wall Street crimes and expunged and that complainants, if they want their Award check, pennies on the dollar, sign documents guaranteeing the Complainant won't talk about the crime. In the meantime, Eric Garner had a rap sheet, Eric Garner's mug shot is all over the Internet violating Garner's Rights of Publicity and Rights of Identity. And Garner's ability to get away from a life of Petty Theft? Toast. Why? Well, everytime Eric would apply for a job, a background check could be run, the result, predictable. Garner's priors would come up so if Garner was one of a handful of applicants, it is guarantee, that a felon with priors and a mug shot on the Internet would not be the candidate selected to fill that job position. As for FINRA? FINRA's perps? No mug shots. No list of priors. As if, hmmm, never existed, which puts unsuspecting public at risk from Wolves of Wall Street and Flash Boys.

What is FINRA?

Well, another acronym needed, FINRA is an SRO. What is an SRO? A Self Regulating Organization. What is a Self Regulating Organization? Well, to some an SRO is a crock. To the SRO, it is the chance to write their own rules sorta like Al Bundy's No MA'AM Club, you remember that.  What is a Self Regulatory Organization?

A self-regulatory organization (SRO) is an organization that exercises some degree of regulatory authority over an industry or profession. The regulatory authority could be applied in addition to some form of government regulation, or it could fill the vacuum of an absence of government oversight and regulation." Absence of oversight and regulation? No Ma'am. That is called Law Enforcement, state to state, city to city, town to town excepting FINRA holds its self above the law, covering crimes by repeat offenders, crimes officers would much rather pursue than petty theives, repeat offenders like Eric Garner. Officers watch Law & Order, Bones, CSI, too.

There is one thing missing. No person who has ever been ripped off by a broker, brokerage or Financial Advisor has ever been told, step one, report the crime to the police, fill out a police report before hiring a lawyer or being sucked in to the FINRA vortex. A crime is a crime is a crime. Let law enforcement start that database that FINRA refuses to make public.

It is time.

Did FINRA kill Eric? No no no. FINRA just covered up crimes cops could have been looking at, you see.

So cops go out on their beat. The officers walk past the doorways of brokerages and Investment Advisors never knowing inside that office maybe someone stealing more from one client than Eric Garner might have done in ten lifetimes. That must change. Crime isnt about colour. Crime, for a cop, is about being able to collar....

Eric Garner’s death is more than a travesty. It, too, like Michael Brown’s death is a window in to the inequality of Wall Street to Main Street. While cops were doing their job looking at Michael and Eric, officers were prevented from doing their job of looking in to Wall Street Criminals, with more money at stake than a petty thief Dad of 6. Think Wolf of Wall Street. Eric didn’t live debauchery in a mansion with coke up his nose and whores. Maybe Eric wasn’t the best of citizens but dead? If cops were allowed to investigate Wall Street crimes FINRA covers up, maybe Eric would be alive today.

Who determined our officers time is best spent chasing penny thieves rather than going for the top honchos thinking what Jonathan Gruber said, Main Street is stupid.

Not anymore.

Sure it is easy to discount that claim of inequality of Wall Street to Main Street. Truly? Is it discountable or a pivot, as techies call it, giving our community an insight in to systems that, no, aren’t broken, but hidden from the average Joe’s view, sorta like Silk Road and Bitcoin.

Virtual currency? Puleeze. To convince people that Virtual Currency existed Wall Street manifested coins. Just like dating and the Internet. Because he claims to be a French model, doesn’t mean the “he” is. As with Wall Street and Main Street and Law Enforcement and Crime.

Eric Garner’s background is coming out in dribs and drabs. Garner had priors. Cops found that out quickly. Cops knew what a street level petty theft criminal looked like. Cops are not trained to know what a Wall Street financial criminal or theft looks like. Most officers have not heard of FINRA. They should know of it if they have 401Ks and pensions managed by Brokers, Brokerages and Investment Advisors. Madoff is the adjective reminding people entrusted life savings can disappear. American Greed is the exclamation point, lest we forget. Show after show, crimes go on, at times encouraged if the crime was reported to FINRA, that kept that claim secret, not public, not published in to any community record.

But, what if Garner’s priors were hidden? Would law enforcement been as diligent in doing their job? And what if some ‘Business League’ or, tee hee, ‘famiglia’ was covertly actively discovered to be hiding Garner’s priors? Then what.

Well, that ‘what’ is is expungement and the ‘by whom’ is FINRA. FINRA is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, self described as “the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States”.

Not quite. FINRA doesn’t explain FINRA has MoU’s, Memorandums of Understanding signed with Regulatory Authorities around the world. Simply, getting other Regulatory authorities to FINRA’s way of ‘seeing’ and ‘doing’ things, which includes expunging the backgrounds of persons accused of criminal behaviours that Law Enforcement does not get to know about. FINRA, like a cat with its litter box, covers trails. Permanently.

You and I get to read about Eric Garner’s priors. Garner’s Right of Privacy is tarnished. As we saw with Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, their Right To Publicity was stolen. Officers responding to Michael Brown’s mother telling vulture vendors they had no right to whore out her son’s name and image threatened Michael’s mom when in fact the person law enforcement are not trained to address are the State and Local laws protecting a person’s Human Rights moreso than Civil Rights.

Yes, Wall Street tweaked that conversation, too, about Copyright Intellectual Property, Identity Theft and such to be a Federal conversation only. It is not. Some lawyers, make that most lawyers, need to go back to Law School and take any course in IP, not try to learn it on the Fly when a potential case walks in their door. IP talk goes deeper. Ask an ARTS content creator who has been in the biz for decades (www.centerforcopyrightintegrity.com)

Wall Street is pushing ID/IP theft to max out Tech models based on stolen property. And Wall Street is hiding criminals turning their back on repeat offenders… yes, my fave to say, ask Bernie, Bernie Madoff said they knew. I am not hearing anyone tell us Bernie’s words detailing ‘they knew.’ It is about time for details if there is to be a break in the War on Crime, taking FINRA to task for pretending to be law enforcement, a crime in itself, and failure to report financial and other crimes FINRA examiners and leadership and lawyers determined were not to be reported to the real cops in town.

It is time. Why? Well,.....

Impersonating Officer or employee of the United States is a violation of 18 U.S. Code § 912. John Beale got 32 years for pretending to be a CIA employee. 18 U.S. Code § 1519 adresses Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy Making false statements, 18 U.S.C. § 1001, generally prohibits “knowingly and willfully making false or fraudulent statements, or concealing information, in "any matter within the jurisdiction" of the federal government of the United States, even by mere denial. A number of notable people have been convicted under the section, including Martha Stewart,  Rod Blagojevich, Scooter Libby, Bernard Madoff  and Jeffrey Skilling. “

Rap sheets? Yep. Wall Street has them. Put them back up, doable, we all know, because the Internet never forgets. Disgorgements. Doable. Shut down FINRA. Purge each and every person on the SEC for not taking these steps, the only steps.

A crime is a crime, Wall Street or Main Street. Loss of liberty. Felon. Rap sheet et al.

It is time.

This is not a conversation of Black and White. This is a conversation of what was on Madoff’s rap sheet that we will never see, on the rap sheet of countless other rap-complaint sheets of brokers, brokerages and Investment Advisors that FINRA made disappear forever that local regulators and the SEC did not question being purged, that were not turned over to law enforcement to do their jobs which is To Enforce The Law [3]not FINRA’s role to prevent being enforced.


[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/epa-official-who-pretended-to-work-for-cia-sentenced-to-32-months/2013/12/18/176d6c6c-6805-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_false_statements

[3] www.gov.mb.ca/justice/victims/pdf/enforcement.pdf

_____________________________________________________________________
BLAME FINRA FOR FERGUSON (c) Carrie Devorah :
______________________________________________________________________

I watch the unrest. And I know something. There shouldn’t be unrest. For all the talk, for years, of inequality between Wall Street and Main Street, believe it. There is.

But before going off on Wall Street, go off on each and every one of those NGO’s and non-profits that keep the doors of Capitol Hill revolving, some for even decades, getting nothing more done, than the day they walked in. That, my friend, is called Job Security. If the problem got solved, then what would they do? The other point to ponder is maybe they were not the right people to send in and out of legislative meetings, walking the Halls of Congress, pounding pavement and being the face in the non profit or alliances’ Grip & Greet photo. If there wasn’t a paycheck attached, with benefits, most of them would be anywhere but there. That is almost the whole truth. Not yet.

While each election cycle people are inundated with howls and hate against the other team, let me explain something only an insider can using the White House as an easier example, the House stays in one place while the residents rotate, every four years or eight. Same with Capitol Hill. Legislators get voted in and out. Staffers? Well, I met a man who worked on the Hill for 30 years.

Yup. 30 years. Maybe staffers need to term out, too, because no different than the national corporation with shares deep pink in the penny stocks at this point in time, while managers have changed, employees have changed, locations come and go, even food placement changes enough to confuse customer loyalty, what remains the same is the Board. One wise employee said their Board has to go.

And so, too, with long term staffers looking forward to benefits, retirement and pensions, because staying too long in one place breeds familiarity with lobbyists, politickers, issues and, well, the dirty secret K Street looks away from adressing that Staffers are rotating faster from the White House and Capitol Hill in to the companies dominating America’s global economic influencers, very much the infographic we would like to see, the flow chart of who left what office, went where post leaving the Hill along with a list of the issues that office was active on- for and against. Can we all say Facebook….? Gibbie went to FB. LIKE. Plouffe went to UBER. UNLIKE.

And the lawyers fighting for investors in FINRA? Umm. Carve this in to the palm of your hand. ‘Lawyer show me your Bar Card number so I may confirm with FINRA you are licensed in this state.’ FINRA doesn’t check. No one does. DO!

Sometimes legislators themselves aren’t seeing the muck swirling beneath their feet. Fair is fair. Give legislators a chance to see, too.

What does all have to do with Ferguson?

Simple. Ferguson is emblematic of our culture, the ‘thems that have’ and the ‘thems that don’t.’ The estimated median household income in Ferguson Missouri, in 2012, is $36,121. Cops salary there? $28,000.

People in Ferguson steal to put food on their table as do people, of all colors and colors, across America. When they get caught, they go to jail. They lose their civil liberties. They don’t vote. They are denied families. And when they come out of jail, they are labelled Felons, struggling to get jobs, most often fulfilling the prediction they will become repeat offenders, and that label of Felon/Con stays with them the rest of their lives. Brookings analyst Elizabeth Kneebone said “At the start of the 2000s, the five census tracts that fall within Ferguson's border registered poverty rates ranging between 4 and 16 percent.” The lucky ones, like Tool Time’s Tim Allen, Bernie Kerik the ex-commissioner turned ex-felon, and the soon to be Theresa Guidice filming her show up to and expected post incarceration.

And then there is Wall Street. “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Flash Boys” don’t tell the whole story. American Greed, does. Week after week, pensioners, disabled, trusting people are profiled telling how they lost their American Greed to grifters that FINRA may or may not have known about.

You cant just blame FINRA. At fault are the people we trusted neglected to tell us they really weren’t qualified. I say their problem is things did not get done because the people are salaried. It’s a paycheck. Paychecks are like a puppy with its belly full. It lays on its back and naps.

Waking up Congress’s ears is their learning that FINRA lets criminals go free on to the streets, rinse and repeat, doing their crime over again. Getting rid of evidence is criminal. Falsifying evidence is criminal. Interfering in a criminal investigation is criminal. And conspiracy when more than one persons or entities are involved in the cover up. Yes, cover up.

Law enforcement is left up to the States. Law enforcement is not left up to FINRA. How many criminal accusations has FINRA turned over to law enforcement. Dunno. No one does. FINRA claims it is a private business not required to produce this evidence. Whoa. When FINRA is feeding fudged figured and facts to the SEC and to local regulators that bumps FINRA’s crime up in to the Big Time. We are talking pokey, Alcatraz and don’t drop the soap time, potentially. Fer sure. Not cooperating in Federal investigations ie by fudging data… I would say opens this dialogue as never before…. Moreso, when someone earning less than $28,000 a year goes to jail being labelled a felon and someone with a taste for Fine things, debauchery and the game of the con, or the con that gamed, walks free.

FINRA is covering up financial crimes by its members, and others, that FINRA does not report in to the Court system. Two rules. One for FINRA. One for Main Street.

Not fair. And that is what FINRA has to do with Ferguson.

The Ferguson criminal’s life is public. No one will ever know about the crime and complaint FINRA deletes, gone, forever.

The Ferguson criminal is publicly shamed. FINRA’s criminal backgrounds are expunged upon request. Ferguson criminals jailed for stealing food for their family do not get their criminal behaviours expunged. FINRA has By-laws, Rules and Code of Procedure laying out how FINRA arbitration and complaint expungements are to be done. FINRA expungements are final. Ferguson felons criminal backgrounds come up each time the person applies for a job, to rent a room, to move their life forward, getting a job. Expungement of complaints against FINRA covered up crimes and data purged from FINRA dues paying members and others, are done without the court component, something someone in Ferguson cannot do.

Not fair is it.

So no, I am not condoning what Ferguson played out on TV. I am advocating FINRA be shut down, be held accountable for its complicitness in cover up, be disgorged, all its stock removed and people made whole. Yeah, and jail time. Wall Streeter's Green will be the new Orange or Black with white stripes. Whichever.

I will be the first one to tell you I got conned three times. Could I have seen it coming? Not at all. Con two hacked JP Morgan. Feds were notified. Not even a peep.

Experts got conned too. Think Madoff. So I feel bad just not alone.

There are no easy answers just a lot of data diving needed, and apologies made. And yeah, a lot of squeezing needed to make room in jail cells to fit FINRA’s frauds into cells with Ferguson felons who may have been stealing to put food on their table.

Oh, wink…. Don’t drop the soap Financial Guy…!  Remember, Bernie said, ‘they knew.’

Note to self, write the Investors Guide to Financial Frauds.

Serious.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE ENTREPRENEUR REPORT NOT ISSUED IN 4 YEARS LET ALONE WEEKLY (c) Carrie Devorah :
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Unemployment reports are issued weekly. Entrepreneur reports have not been since 2010. It is almost 2015. Entrepreneur reports are issued by the Bureau Of Labor & Statistics, BED, business employment dynamics, the Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics.

Entrepreneurial starts, less than a year old peaked in 2006, falling lower, in 2010, that in 1994. Jobs created by businesses less than a year old were 2,000,000 less than in 1994.

Survival rate of these business started in 1994 with 100% being the Percent surviving, year 1994? Less than 25% in 2010.

Defining self-employed? For the purpose of the article, people who depend on their business for their primary income. The BLS definition is narrow (i) a freelancer who earns money only when someone pays them, (ii) an employed worker who freelances on the side, (iii) a business owner with investors or partners, getting a weekly salary and a piece of the profits.

Oh, the last study of Self-employed workers by occupational group? Done in 1997. Amongst the self-employments listed? Don’t look too hard. It isn’t there. No singer, no dancer, no writer, no poet, no photographer, no artist.

None.

In light of all the Jobs promised from Entrepreneurial startups that Venture Capital is being poured into with money made by investors but not on the “live” side? Stats are sobering, aren’t they

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
13-42  FINRA Comment on a Rule Proposal  to Implement the Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System Request                         (c) Carrie Devorah :
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

  FINRA soliciting comments on Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System (CARDS) Proposal is tantamount to asking a pedophile for advice on children. There are some things ya’ just don’t do., like parodying the government process of soliciting public comments when FINRA is not a government entity, a fact FINRA itself gives mixed answers about.

Moreso, FINRA collecting Data on Users is nothing less than a sham when FINRA destroys and expunges Bad Data on FINRA members & Industry persons without advising visitors to FINRA the Person or Brokerages background has been cleansed of complaints and crimes a regular citizen would have been jailed for and lost civil rights like voting, living, thereafter, with a scarlet letter F for felon instead of Freedom FINRA white collar criminals walk the streets enjoying.

Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. FINRA wants to collect CARDS. Investors want FINRA cons exposed enabling a safer decision making process of a Financial Advisor, Broker or Brokerage.

Moreso, Investors want accountability of FINRA management that thought up and continue to perpetrate this Investor Con, as far back as the NASD.

FINRA on its website’s about page says “FINRA is not part of the government. We’re an independent, not-for-profit organization authorized by Congress to protect America’s investors by making sure the securities industry operates fairly and honestly.”

FINRA isn’t authorized by Congress. FINRA General Counsel Terri Reicher says so. What gives with an entity publishing “Regulatory Alerts” on its website home page? Well, hmmm, ducks, as in “if it walks like one and talks like one….”

FINRA is an SRO, a self regulated authority. Let’s say that again, in capitol letters. SELF. FINRA is a business league, with dues paying members. FINRA General Counsel Terri Reicher writes that FINRA’s By Laws, Rules and Code of Procedure apply only to FINRA’s dues paying members, so why is FINRA soliciting comments from the Public. The Public doesn’t pay dues nor, as FINRA General Counsel Terri Reicher emailed, the public does not have a license FINRA can take away. FINRA’s Comment page states “Why We Want Your Comments FINRA is required to file with the SEC proposed rules that govern the conduct of FINRA member firms. Prior to filing a proposed rule with the SEC, FINRA generally solicits comments on the proposal from members, investors, and the general public through a Regulatory Notice, which is posted on FINRA's website.” Recap…. “P-r-o-p-o-s-e-d   r-u l-e-s  t-h-a-t  g-o-v-e-r-n  t-h-e  c-o-n-d-u-c-t o-f F-I-N-R-A m-e-m-b-e-r  f-i-r-m-s-.

© Carrie Devorah

carriedev@gmail.com
(562) 688 2883

FINRA Has Permission To Publish My Comment.                                                                        
Any and All Other Entities Seeking To Publish This

Comment Must Receive Permission & License

 

Interesting.

If the purpose of these “Comment” solicitations is the image of compliancy, then, there must be a penalty for pretending to be something FINRA is not, in the guise of purporting to be about Investor Protection. Dues paying members don’t care about investors. Dues paying members care about dues paying members outcomes, even on issues of CARDS, Comprehensive Automated Risk Data. Besides, FINRA has already begun collecting Data on Customers. So what is the purpose of the Comment Solicitation.

A month or so back, FINRA initiated a sign in to FINRA’s brokercheck site. Before FINRA initiated this sign in, investors, and others, to FINRA’s brokercheck would land on FINRA’s home page, initiate a Broker or brokerage search in the right column, as many times as one wanted, or needed, as the case may be. If there were cookies or other data aggregating going on, the Customer did not know, returning as often as one needed to feel better about their potential Financial advisor. The Investors could search freely, without being intimidated.

Now? Things have changed. Corrected, FINRA changed ‘things’ prior to soliciting Comments on FINRA, on all things, FINRA collecting data. FINRA is intimidating Investors who, at least, felt their searches on Persons of The Investors Interest, were being searched in Anonymity. Nope. Tracked.

The Investor doesn’t know who the Information is being shared with. Call this a shot in the dark… maybe, scoff, the Investor’s searches are being shared with the Investor’s Broker or brokerage or Party to an Arbitration or Mediation the Investor is in opposition to or with. The repercussion? The impact?

Investors will search less.

What is needed is FINRA being replaced or, better yet, FINRA being barred from posing as an Investor Protector when FINRA appears to be little more than a Wolf in Sheep’s clothing, or, a pedophile watching over a playground of innocent, trusting children conditioned to respect their elders.

Investor’s private information is used, by FINRA and its members, in the course of FINRA arbitrations. FINRA trained arbitrators and FINRA Case Managers are schooled in the art of pressuring investors while giving members sleight of hand, one after the other. Produce Discovery? Industry professional says non exists. SEC rules state Client records and files must be kept 6 years. Arbitrators? Case Managers look the other way on that rule. Claimant’s counsel demands Discovery of Industry respondents tax returns, bank records, debts, civil suits and

© Carrie Devorah

carriedev@gmail.com

(562) 688 2883

FINRA Has Permission To Publish My Comment.                                                                                                                        Any and All Other Entities Seeking To Publish This

Comment Must Receive Permission & License

 

other? FINRA Case Manager looks the other way instead compelling Investors to produce Tax Returns and Brokerage statements then used against Investors to humiliate the Investor, on the record of FINRA’s official digital audio of the Arbitration.

Protecting Investor’s data? After the data collection has begun. Sorta like trying to put the horse back in the barn…. When the barn is already gone up in flames, in this case, enflaming the Investing public.

What would be appropriate, rather than FINRA collecting data on Investors, that Congress force FINRA to give up FINRA’s having anything to do with Investors, both as a data disseminator and as an Arbitration/mediation forum; force FINRA to replace back in to Brokers and Brokerage records all the information FINRA has expunged from the broker and brokerage FINRA brokerchecks; publish the number of times a FINRA participant has been sued, how many of the lawsuits were never reported to  FINRA brokercheck.

Look, a non neutral entity cannot be compliant with the FAA, the Federal Arbitration Act. Just no way in hell can you make a size 12 foot fit in to a size 6 glass slipper. FINRA must be shut down. And the legislators that have followed FINRA’s deceptive lead all these years? 2016, is near upon the voting public. Let 2014 be a reminder of what happens when the voting public figures things out, like how the hell has Congress succumbed to FINRA, a cash rich company, holding arbitrations in over 70 American cities, with international MoU’s.

MOU? Memorandums of Understanding. FINRA has MOU's signed with Canada, England, Australia, Hong Kong, to name a few. Investor information will be shared globally.

Lest we forget, FINRA has no oversight over Investment Advisors, yet conducts Arbitrations between Investors and Investment Advisors.

FINRA needs to be shut down. FINRA’s sham is just that. No matter how much lipstick you put on a pig, it will always be a pig. Besides, everything online is compromised in seconds. Not an if  but a fact.

 So I ask again, why is FINRA faking out the Public and Congress with a CARDS comment when, already FINRA is collecting data (Fair Use Copy & Paste For Purpose Of Responding To The Comment), stated, clearly, bluntly in the Terms & Conditions FINRA implemented a month ago as an “agreement” before viewing Industry persons online FINRA brokerhistory.

 

 © Carrie Devorah

carriedev@gmail.com

(562) 688 2883

FINRA Has Permission To Publish My Comment.                                                                                                                        Any and All Other Entities Seeking To Publish This

Comment Must Receive Permission & License

 

“ Terms & Conditions

 

1. FINRA collects, compiles, organizes, indexes, digitally converts and maintains regulatory information from registered persons, member firms, government agencies and other sources and maintains information in the proprietary Central Registration Depository ("CRD®") database and system. FINRA releases such information through FINRA BrokerCheck, which provides information from the CRD system to the investing public. Your access to FINRA BrokerCheck information provided through FINRA's CRD database and system does not transfer any rights in CRD, FINRA BrokerCheck or related technologies to you.

2. Your use of FINRA BrokerCheck information is conditioned upon your acceptance, without modification, of all terms and conditions of this Agreement. Any information accessed, requested or provided through FINRA BrokerCheck must be accessed, requested and used in accordance with the terms and conditions specified in this Agreement. FINRA reserves any rights not expressly granted under these terms and conditions. Additionally, FINRA reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify the terms and conditions for use of FINRA BrokerCheck information at any time by changing this Agreement, and any changes are effective immediately. Such changes will be posted on the FINRA BrokerCheck web-site.

3. CRD and FINRA BrokerCheck are proprietary databases and employ proprietary software, but FINRA makes no exclusive proprietary claim to the information in the FINRA BrokerCheck system that is not created by FINRA. You are neither restricted nor prohibited by FINRA from obtaining a copy of any original filing or information from a non-FINRA source.

4. The information provided through FINRA BrokerCheck shall be used ONLY for your own personal or professional use, and in accordance with all other terms and conditions of this Agreement:

1. to assist you, your clients or your organization in determining whether to conduct or continue to conduct securities or commodities business with FINRA member firms or their associated persons;
2. to assist you, your clients or your organization in judicial proceedings or arbitration proceedings relating to securities or commodities transactions; or
3. for non-commercial purposes consistent with the promotion of just and equitable principles of trade and the protection of investors and the public interest.

5. The information provided to you through FINRA BrokerCheck is provided to you ONLY for your own personal or professional use. All other uses are prohibited. You agree that you will not duplicate, download, publish, publicly display, modify or otherwise distribute the information retrieved from FINRA BrokerCheck for any purpose other than as expressly permitted by this Agreement. In no event may you offer to others any information retrieved from FINRA BrokerCheck for commercial purposes, or as part of a subscription service or similar arrangement. You agree that you will not use the information retrieved from FINRA BrokerCheck to develop or create a database of information to be sold, licensed or made otherwise commercially available. You agree that you will not use any process to monitor or copy FINRA BrokerCheck information in bulk, or to make voluminous, excessive or repetitive requests for information. You further agree that you will not use any device, software or routine to bypass any software or hardware that prohibits volume requests for information, you will not interfere with or attempt to interfere with the proper working of FINRA BrokerCheck, and you will not take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on FINRA BrokerCheck or FINRA.

6. All requests for permission to access or use FINRA BrokerCheck for uses other than those described in paragraphs 4 or 5 of this Agreement must be made in writing to FINRA clearly stating the purpose and manner in which FINRA BrokerCheck is proposed to be used. Requests may be submitted to FINRA, FINRA BrokerCheck, 9509 Key West Avenue, Rockville, Maryland, 20850. FINRA, in its sole discretion, may approve or reject any request that is inconsistent with the terms and conditions of use of FINRA BrokerCheck.

7. Provision of information by FINRA pursuant to FINRA BrokerCheck does not constitute a waiver of any of FINRA's rights, privileges, or immunities with respect to the furnishing of disciplinary or registration information.

8. FINRA does not charge for this service, which is offered pursuant to FINRA's responsibilities as a self-regulatory organization, and, in particular, pursuant to Section 15A(i) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In the provision of this service, FINRA makes no warranties of any kind, and disclaims liability to any person for any actions taken or omitted in good faith with respect to this FINRA BrokerCheck. FINRA is not responsible for and cannot verify information from sources other than FINRA, and does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information requested. Neither FINRA nor any affiliate or supplier shall be liable for any cause of action in contract, tort, or otherwise, for more than the incremental telecommunications cost incurred to connect to the service. Notwithstanding the above, neither FINRA nor any affiliate or supplier shall be liable for any loss of income, trading loss, or consequential, incidental, or indirect damages, regardless of whether FINRA has been informed of the possibility of such damages.

9. Member firms, registered persons, government agencies, and other sources file disclosure information with FINRA. Consistent with its responsibilities as a self-regulatory organization, FINRA performs a regulatory review of the disclosure information filed before it makes the information available through FINRA BrokerCheck. Most disclosure information is available through FINRA BrokerCheck within two business days of being filed. In certain limited circumstances, disclosure information may not be available through FINRA BrokerCheck within the usual timeframe, but will be made available as soon as practicable.

10. Consistent with rules, policies and procedures approved by the SEC, FINRA will disclose information on individuals, through FINRA BrokerCheck, for ten years after the termination of the individual's FINRA registration and, in certain cases, indefinitely. Additionally, FINRA will disclose indefinitely information on brokerage firms through FINRA BrokerCheck. Disclosure information reported to FINRA after an individual or brokerage firm has terminated may not have been reviewed by the brokerage firm or individual; in addition, brokerage firms and individuals who are no longer registered are not required to independently report such information.

11. FINRA BrokerCheck includes only information provided to CRD. In substantially all cases, the information provided through FINRA BrokerCheck represents the verbatim record as it was reported to FINRA. However, in certain limited circumstances, FINRA combined information about a single event that was reported by different sources (e.g., a record reporting information on an event that was submitted by a brokerage firm may contain information reported on the same event that was submitted by a regulator). This condition occurred when the data in the Legacy CRD system was converted (i.e., reformatted and transferred) to Web CRD, the Internet-based Central Registration Depository. This condition affects a small percentage of records reported to FINRA prior to August 1999. These converted records contain information that was reported to FINRA in accordance with appropriate reporting protocols applicable to the source filers (e.g., brokerage firms and regulators); however, because of the combination of information from different reporting sources, a record disclosed through FINRA BrokerCheck may not reflect the actual filing submitted to FINRA.

12. The "Individual Broker comments," "Brokerage Firm comments" and "Regulator comments" appear verbatim as they were filed in CRD via Forms U4, U5, and U6. These comments were not written by FINRA and have not been edited by FINRA in any way. FINRA reserves the right to redact customer names, confidential customer information, or offensive or potentially defamatory language from a FINRA BrokerCheck Report consistent with policies and procedures approved by the SEC.

By clicking Accept, I agree to the above Terms & Conditions.”

Really, FINRA, really. As for Congress? Need one remind that online frauds may be Wire frauds, just saying… that maybe, cough, law enforcement should be reviewing, since FINRA alleges if is sees a fraud perpetrated by its Dues Paying Members that FINRA may turn that matter over to Law Enforcement. Possibly vet to see if/when FINRA has done so? Just a thought Congress, just a thought….

Sincerely

Carrie Devorah

Public Investor **-*****

Founder
THE CENTER FOR COPYRIGHTS INTEGRITY

www.centerforcopyrightintegrity.com                                                                                                                            Where ARTS, IP, ID, IT and ENFORCEMENT Come Together In One Voice Against Online Theft Of Content and Commerce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I93F73UYmsw&feature=youtu.be

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
FINRA Requests Comment on a Revised Proposal to Adopt Consolidated FINRA Rule 2231  (Customer Account Statements)
(c) Carrie Devorah :
___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

At a time when the SEC is seeking oversight of Crowdfunding, at a time when Technology dominates the Investment scene, online and off, at a time when the proverbial envelope is being pushed farther/faster, at a time in a world of Internet fraud, hacking, electronic signatures can 'be' anyone from anywhere in the world, anyone but the named/signed person, it is mandatory FINRA do as the Russians do, move accountability back to typewriters and paper, not move forward to Electronic Signatures.

Electronic signatures, often just initials, two or three letters, with infinite anagram possibilities, are here this second and gone in a flash. With increasing unknown, unseen eyes and hands on private information, the Algorithmic gold, facilitated by entities like Silk Road, TOR Project and an email world of BCC, never before has it become more crucial to keep everything above board and tangible, especially with FINRA, a 501(c )(6) that operates by its own By-Laws, Rules and Codes of Procedures, misstated to be compliant with the FAA, Federal Arbitration Act.

The FAA is neutral. FINRA arbitrations, in which Signatures are Prima Evidence, are not neutral. FINRA General Counsel Terri Riecher states there is a get-out-of-jail-free lifeline for FINRA SRO members, brokers and brokerages and for Investment Advisors signing FINRA broker arbitration agreements to submit to FINRA cloaked arbitrations.

Real signatures are Investor gold. Real Signatures are Investor justice. Well, almost. Not in a FINRA forum where, like on Halloween, strange things happen and go ‘bumped’ in the night, by hackers alleged to be Chinese. Allegedly. Every financial firm has an IT architect inside, employed today at the firm and gone tomorrow. These IT architects know the Firms tech guts intimately, even after leaving the Firm’s employment, a fact very hard to dispute when Documentation is in hand showing a Firm’s IT architect hacked client over 6 years after the IT architect left. And the Firm that got hacked, knew, never notifying the Client.

So, real ink signatures are needed.

All well intentioned Dodd-Frank was crafted to be, Dodd-Frank fails protecting investors and bank clients. The system is already too big that it can only fail. There aren't enough eyes to look everywhere, moreso, many employees would not recognize the crime when they saw it, at first blush. Clients, for sure, would not recognize the crime in that in an IT world IT crime allows the their to create different lives for the client's accounts- what the client sees and what the client does not see, by design.

Clients do not see papers inside their accounts ever. FINRA protects the sordid behaviors of ethnic SRO's that away. And if an arbitration is launched, FINRA protects their SRO members even more, having two sets of standards for FINRA arbitration participants. FINRA Case Managers do not compel Industry arbitration participants to produce Discovery the SEC compels be kept 6 years. FINRA trained arbitrators compel Investors to produce everything showing where Investor assets are kept. Investors learn nothing of where Industry assets are kept or co-mingled.

The Investor knows little about their Industry financial manager they day he Investor files an Arbitration complaint, finagled by FINRA in to the FINRA forum rather than being sent to a neutral forum as required in FINRA By-Laws, Rules and Code of Procedures.

Customers presume the Home Office of an investment firm has oversight of what investment managers do in field Offices. The fact is there are Investment firms parent companies that do not have access to the field office the Investor is a customer of.

The debate should not be allowing Electronic Signatures but, quarterly, sending clients cover-to-cover copies of the clients file, signed off with real signatures, possibly scanned, but for sure, followed up with a real ink signature sent through the US mails. Customers should have access to ALL of their file from before becoming a customer through exits.

Real signatures are lie detectors. Electronic signatures are lie facilitators. The Investor's goal is to mitigate their becoming involved with fraudulent Industry persons shielded by Financial SRO's.

Overstating? No. Watch American Greed.

Electronic fraud, internet fraud are exponentially increasing. Paper rules. Customers must be encouraged to go back to paper. Without proof, without that ink on paper signature, the Investor is left chasing phantoms, a signature that was there and now isn't, gone completely or replaced with different initials.

FINRA loves electronic signatures. Electronic signatures is a win-win for FINRA's incestuous SRO. FINRA isn't about Investor's winning. FINRA conducting non- FAA compliant arbitration is about FINRA members winning, the Investor losing.

With Customers getting cover-to-cover copies of their files, every note, every email exchange between the IA, the Clearing Corp, inter -office emails, intra-office emails etc, and with Customers receiving real ink in paper signatures then clearer pictures of crimes in liners accounts will surface faster. Congress, regulators and law enforcement will get to do their job faster, protecting other Customers.

Remember what. Madoff said.... "They" knew.

They did. Documented.

_____________________________________________________________________________
COMMENT: SEC File Number S7-07-11 (c) Carrie Devorah :
_____________________________________________________________________________

REMOVAL OF CERTAIN REFERENCES TO CREDIT RATINGS AND AMENDMENT TO THE ISSUER DIVERSIFICATION IN THE MONEY MARKET FUND RULE

While the question at hand is "removal of certain references and amendment to the issuer diversification in the money market fund rule" there is and will be the "what if" question. What if someone does  not comply? Where will it be resolved? Who will know about the problem?

Hillary Clinton says it takes a village to raise a child. 2014, new information is being disseminated purposefully and publicly. It takes one file, one angered investor to state, NO, no more Comment Solicitations from the SEC about matters concerning domestic and international investors in the American Markets  until  FINRA is disbanded  but only after the millions taken from Investors has been disgorged and complicit parties jailed.

The unofficial self appointed SEC lapddog for Investor issues is FINRA.  FINRA tells people it is authorized by Congress on its website. FINRA ranks high in Keyword searches. FINRA boasts it handles 99% of Investor issues.  People trust.  FINRA states it is about Investor integrity. People trust. FINRA tells global markets it is about market integrity. People believe. FINRA tells people it is an authority to conduct arbitrations between Financial Industry and Investors. Investors trust. FINRA tells investors it conducts Arbitrations  in accordance with the Federal Rules of Arbitration.  Investors believe. The SEC lets people Trust and Believe.

But what if that is not the case? What if the SEC knows what FINRA is and isnt but does nothing. How far up the appointee ladder should the Financial and Fiduciary Tramp Walk of Shame go?

This  SEC Call for Comments is footnoted with Red Flags and Alerts:

The Investment Advisers Act Release No. 3118, December 1, 2010,  proposed  a two year extension of rule  20(3)-3T's sunset provision).

The Temporary Rule Regarding Principal Trades With Certain Advisory Client, Investment advisers Act  ReleaseNo. 312, December 28, 2010) adressed extending rule 206(3)-3T's  sunset provision from December  31m 2010 to December 31, 2012, 2010 Extension Release.

The Temporary Rule Regarding Principal Trades with Certain advisory Clients Investment advisers Act Release No. 3483, October 9, 2012, proposed a two year extension of rule 206(3)-3T's sunset provision.

The Temporary Rule Regarding Principal trades with Certain Advisory Clients,Investment Advisers Act Release No. 3522,  December 20, 2012 extending rule 20(3)-3T's sunset provision from December 31,2012to December 31, 2014.
Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank Act required the SEC to conduct the study delivered to  Congress on January 21, 2011, "Study on Investment Advisers and Broker-Dealers."

In common with all the afore  listed? Advisory clients. Broker-dealers. Financial Entities.

FINRA's self assumed oversight is a problem linked with refusal of the SEC to act upon False Claims (http://www.justice.gov/civil/docs_forms/C-FRAUDS_FCA_Primer.pdf) and act against an entity deceptive as if it is A Government Official/Agency (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/912).

FINRA states on its website it is authorized by Congress  "About FINRA - FINRA
www.finra.org/AboutFINRA/
We're an independent, not-for-profit organization authorized by Congress to protect America's investors by making sure the securities industry operates fairly  ...
‎What We Do - ‎Contact Us - ‎Firms We Regulate - ‎Leadership" (http://www.finra.org/AboutFINRA/)

FINRA is not  authorized by Congress yet this false claim sits on their website and is repeated on the LINKEDIN CV's of FINRA arbitrators/mediators.

FINRA allows non licensed attorneys to argue for clients in foreign jurisdictions, sanctioning unauthorized practice of law, despite the website page on FINRA's website. FINRA Case Managers state  vetting Opposing Counsel is the responsibility of the Investor,  the client of a Broker-Dealer, Entity or Investor, to confirm opposing counsel is licensed to argue in the city in which FINRA sets the arbitration/mediation to be held.

FINRA allows Arbitrations/Mediations to proceed without the Arbitration/mediation case/number being reported in to the Industry Respondent's Broker History.

FINRA sends, interstate via Fax and US Mail,Arbitration Panel CV's stating an Arbitration panelist is  a  licensed and practicing lawyer when the local Bar shows the  proposed Panel Chair's license is inactive.

And when a  FINRA arbitration panel  Award is sent out adverse to the Investor, FINRA says, the Investor cant do anything about the FINRA Panel's Award decision except file  an appeal in the US Courts of Appeal because FINRA  arbitrations are in compliance with the Federal Arbitration Act.

FINRA arbitrations are not in compliance with the Federal Arbitration Act.  FINRA awards provide a 30 day valid reason for non payment of the Arbitrators award. There  is  no lifeline, no Monopoly "escape from jail" provided for in the Federal Arbitration Act. There is a reason FINRA provides "league member" escape from jail FINRA provides to Industry members. FINRA member league financial industry pay dues. That  said, there is no 30 day valid reason for non payment of the Arbitrators award in the Federal Arbitration Act.

FINRA attorney Terri Reicher wrote "...seem to think that FINRA’s By-Law, Article VI, Section 3, exempts you from any legal obligation to pay the arbitration award  at issue because it contain an exception for “valid basis for non-payment.”  The By-Law in question permits FINRA to suspend the licenses of firms and associated persons who fail to pay an arbitration award, unless they present a valid reason for not paying the award. The By-Law does not apply to you because you are not a firm or associated person subject to FINRA’s regulatory jurisdiction.  You do not hold a securities license that FINRA could suspend. Moreover...."

Reicher continued "Finally, the term “valid basis for non-payment” applies only to the FINRA By-Law; it does not apply in any court proceeding that the firm might bring against you to enforce the award. FINRA has no role in judicial proceedings to confirm or vacate arbitration awards, and FINRA By-Laws do not relieve you of any obligation imposed by the arbitrators.  "

Investors do not pay dues to FINRA. In itself, said, the SEC complicit forum for any and all Acts proposed and sought comment for is not neutral. FINRA must be shut down.

And what happens when a District Court judge fails to act despite being given documentation the Lawyer on an arbitration panel and the Lawyer representing respondents in the FINRA arbitration were practicing law in the District without a license, making this Arbitration non-compliant with the Federal Arbitration Act.

To be clear, neither AAA, ABA,  JAMS or local bar jurisdictions vet  Lawyers bar numbers as a requirement to representing clients in their  arbitration forum. The AAA, ABA, JAMS work on the honor system, the representative  said. There  isn't honor amongst thieves. Thieves do find their  way in to honorable systems.

The process to re-balance for Investor Rights and Reparation is slow. Lawyers and judges are accountable to review boards. Review boards themselves are accountable to local laws and jurisdictions.  Legislators have oversight. Legislators have constituents who are investors. Legislators have constituents who are jailed, liberties lost, while FINRA expunged history members  are turned back on to the unsuspecting public greater than ever before- via altered and/or incomplete U4's, websites, internet,  podcasts, seminars held in hotels, restaurants  with comp'd  dinners, the list goes  on.

An answer is law enforcement. Law enforcement is the back bone of the judicial system, the spine of real laws, legal law, not by-laws that FINRA cites as its raison d'etre for One Standard Rule for  Industry and Another Standard Rule For Investing Public.

In the world of crime, there are terms such as "accomplice", "co-conspirators", "conspiracy," "cover-up". Search the term "accomplice" online. It is revealing. "
ac·com·plice
əˈkämplis/
noun
a person who helps another commit a crime.
synonyms:       partner in crime, associate, accessory, abettor, confederate, collaborator, fellow conspirator, co-conspirator; henchman; informal sidekick"

Another definition is a tad more color filled, "
Accomplice | Define Accomplice at Dictionary.com
dictionary.reference.com/browse/accomplice
Accomplice definition, a person who knowingly helps another in a crime or wrongdoing, often as a subordinate. See more..."

Law Enforcement needs crime data, increasingly more challenging in a world of budget decreases, complicated with financial industry Cover Up of Crimes, first NASD, now FINRA. Law  enforcement needs a Crime Analysis of data provided by investors that submitted to FINRA's forum, that signed Expungement agreements under the extortion threat if the Agreement to Expunge the Financial Industry parties background was not signed, the investor would not receive their penny on the dollar compensation. The Crime data would have to go  back decades.

Costly? Yes. FINRA execs should pay for  it.

FINRA expunges Bad Actors histories, on the one hand or page, telling investors to use Broker-check to vet out complaint histories of potential Investment Advisors, Broker-Dealers and Entities while failing to advise potential investors that the IA, BD and Entity background may have been scrubbed, whitewashed, sanitized- expunged- and how many times the background was cleansed. FINRA arbitration-mediation decisions are pennies  on the dollar returned to the harmed investor. A $1,900,000 claim against Industry returned $200,000 to the Investor.   Sweet deal, SEC, sweet  deal. A cool walk  away of $1,700,000 to the FINRA member-arbitration participant and a sanitized brokerhistory, to boot.

While the  conversation  against forced Arbitration largely has focused on Arbitration being unconstitutional, the conversation now before Congress  is that while FINRA purges taint from their members  and of non-members that did not sign FINRA's Special  Submission  Form, turning them back on to Financial Streets to repeat their crimes again with no loss of Civil Liberties and no need to disgorge their stolen financial gain living lives of the Rich and Famous and Wolf Of Wall Street, men and women, mothers and fathers who stole to provide for their children or other crimes, Scarlet lettered for life, left to languish  in prison losing Civil Liberties of freedom, right to vote, unable to qualify for certain jobs sometimes from teen-hood to adult-hood. Their lives are destroyed. Wall Street White Wash criminals lives go on.

This is wrong.

So, what is the value of proposing any rule or amendment if the Resolution forum is a fraud.

From the get, go, FINRA's File Number S7-07-11  "removal of certain references and amendment to the issuer diversification in the money market fund rule" with global financial  implications is a no-go until FINRA is  dissolved with a law  abiding neutral  regulatory agency replaced  with sworn law enforcement sworn of financial crimes oversight removing a slap-on-the-wrist street performance with a jail-jail-jail-time-baby authority.

If one could have access  to the Madoff file, would one most likely find a web of deceit  acting as a safety  cushion for the Man Who Fell From Financial Industry grace going back as far as the NASD. For sure. Expungement did not start in 2009 with FINRA. Expungement goes far back in to the 1990's. FINRA replaced NASD as the Queen of Cleaning brokers backgrounds.

Law enforcement tells us if you sees-something-says-something-SO-LOUD-AND-PUBLIC-that-someone-does-something.

Madoff  got caught not because Industry regulators did their job. Madoff said the Regulators knew. Believe him. Until all expungements of Industry entities and individuals are repealed and replaced; until all funds are disgorged; until all accomplices are jailed with loss of Civil Liberties, or in the converse, or in the converse, all jailed persons are restored their civil liberties? Then, SEC, no more comment solicitations. Deal with this crime. Or do the time.

The upside to the SEC stopping all comments to adress FINRA's role in Investor crimes? A healthy-ier Wall Street. As  long as  there is  money involved, there will be criminals to be found.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
COMMENT: FINRA Form 211  (c) Carrie Devorah
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

FINRA's "Form 211" requestor asks who would be interested in Form 211 information. FINRA, same bullet point, asks what the level of interest in Form 211 information would be.

Question. In a world of Algorithms, no privacy, file sharing, hacking, piracy- how the hell has FINRA managed to keep negative information about their members private and offline and coming up so low in keyword Searches? A question to have answered under Oath under the penalty of perjury in a court of law is to ask if  FINRA and its members and league been removing information, bad and good, from the Internet and off of sites other than FINRA's broker-check. Answering this question is FINRA's first step towards Transparency.

Questioning benefits of making FINRA Form 211 information publicly available is not only a Red Alert to enforcement agencies but also a no brainer retort. There is information withheld by FINRA from investors. How has this non-profit business league got away, for so long, without asking this question before. In crime and such, usually, when one starts copping to "truths" and broadcasting moves disguised as Q&A's, then someone or someones are sensing an informational time bomb is ticking, reacting by dribbling info out one test leak at a time.

FINRA asks for guesstimates on the number of investors anticipated to access and used Form 211. Brain simple. Back-tabulate each and every published, make that notated on FINRA Broker-history check, arbitration and mediation held against Financial Entities, Broker-Dealers and Investment advisors, add in each and every, triple that or times it times ten (a guesstimate) for each and every arbitration and mediation FINRA case managers do  not confirm and add to the Industry person's published issues posted to FINRA Broker-history check; guesstimate the number of Investment Advisors that FINRA, correctly sent to the correct overseeing regulatory Authority, guesstimate the number of Industry Arbitrations and Mediations conducted by other entities such as JAMS, AAA, ABA and local Law authorities ie the DC Bar and then? You still wont have an authoritative guesstimate. How does one count in the legitimate claims lawyers turned away because the dollar and sense amount of the claim did not make business sense to the attorney. Lawyers run businesses too.

The next poll to run is one FINRA cannot dodge answering, the I.O.T. being what it is. I.O.T.? Internet of Thieves. Data. Investors want data dumps of stats FINRA has been hoarding on Investors and their habits.

FINRA's Comment solicitations are conducted through Internet solicitations which means every page touch, every click, every print down, every you name it is recorded. And reported to The Google, the other search engines, and ISPs. Congress doesn't have to worry about a Lois-Lerner-look-a-like situation happening here. FINRA is not a government agency although it alleges to be on its website "About FINRA - FINRA
www.finra.org/AboutFINRA/
We're an independent, not-for-profit organization authorized by Congress to protect America's investors by making sure the securities industry operates fairly  ...
‎What We Do - ‎Contact Us - ‎Firms We Regulate - ‎Leadership"

FINRA can't avoid FOIA's alleging FOIA's protection from evidence production. FINRA is just another one of us, like you and me, accountable to even higher Authorities, the DOJ and the IRS. Whatever FINRA does, FINRA should never mess with the IRS, by claiming Investor protection  and risking being perceived and/or found to be doing something different.

Data is available. FINRA members share Users online data with sites like Markit On Demand.

Form 211 data is a boon to law enforcement, to profilers, to crime analysts, investors seeking to learn more about these Market Actors, lawyers seeking to evaluate and build cases against FINRA members and others party to FINRA overseen arbitrations and Mediations. Data must be made available, such as scans, cited resources, citations, quotations, footnotes, resources.

Client data must be kept no less than 6 years, as per SEC rules and infinitely, in the cloud, or other digital storage locations and provided along with all internal documents including but not limited to emails between all the Actors/participants, in that, this data too often contains Intent of the Crime, proof of a crime and unknown Actors who will provide valuable insight in the even issue arises mitigating the length and Discovery wasted in the back and forth of Investor claims against FINRA members and others overseen by FINRA Case Managers, in the event of issue resolution.

Let's be honest between us girls here. If a lawyer is competent and thinks outside of the FINRA box in to social media and networking, it is better for FINRA to voluntarily 'give' up the goods at the get go rather than play games under the alleged oversight of FINRA Case Managers under FINRA's alleged umbrellas of Investor Protection and Market Integrity. MoreSo, Investors should receive Encrypted CD's of all the data sent through the USPS mails, in that the USPS is an agent of the US Government. sending anything of question through the US Mails is criminal. The goal is to step up as many stepping stones to Investor Protection that can be administered legally. By Law enforcement.

The honest concern,with FINRA being the disseminator of data, is that FINRA, to date, has not been 100% upfront and detailed in honesty to Investors, to date, since July 2007 nor was it while in its incubation period as the NYSE and the NASD. That FINRA and its predecessors have kept this conversation active as a bouncing ball all these years, as far back as the '90's is mind blowing Moreso that FINRA has not been forced accountable, yet. The concern for FINRA Form 211 is that, to be effective, it must be 100% complete, raw, honest and revealing of data FINRA has withheld from investors or failed to vet, representing to investors, the U4, U5's and other such historical and anecdotal data resources on FINRA league members, and others, submitting to FINRA issue resolution, is factual, correct and provided sworn under Oath and under the penalty of perjury. Fact is when talk is talk without action, there is little resilience in believing this leopard will lose its spots.

The question asking should all information be redacted or omitted is mis-asked. The question to push into action is how quickly will FIbullying, showtime, alert, NRA be forced to disgorge all data purged from each and every FINRA members history along with being forced to disgorge all data from each and every arbitration and/or mediation overseen by FiNRA Case Managers in domestic and international arbitrations and Mediations overseen by FINRA along with divulging each matter FINRA Case Managers have participated in, not posted to Bad, and other Actors, broker histories.

To assure the authenticity of this data,  FINRA, in the vein of complete transparency, will have to reveal their HR employees data, arbitrators and mediators data, decisions, payments, etc., decisions, quantity and types of decisions and awards issued and if FINRA decisions went against Investors, a complete detailed list of all courts and judges FINRA award collections we're sought in, judges records of decisions, too, along with lawyers, PIABA and other attorneys appearing on behalf of Respondents and claimants, definition of if the arbitrations and Mediations were inter-FINRA's member league or between FINRA members and Investors. This data, along with others, which will require an aggregation of receipts between FINRA and vendors, banking records, cheques issued and cashed, are the a tarting point to get FINRA to real accountability not just, well, alleging to be real. Heck, you watch one reality TV show, there is nothing you haven't seen about what is real and what is SHOWTIME, intended for audience applause. There is nothing to stand and cheer for when it comes to investors being robbed. That is what a financial industry white collar crime is, after all, robbery, albeit it glorified in the books of Wolf Of Wall Street and Flash Boys.

Links, in this day and time of the Internet, are roads to nowhere. Read one online T.O.S., you've read them all. The catch phrase is User must return to the site T.O.S. page to catch all T.O.S. changes throughout the site. Really. Attachments, al and updates labelled amendments, current and historic, to FINRA's Form 211 must not only be sent as PDF's that will signal the download of the PDF has been done along with sending Alert reminders to the Investor to download the Alert, along with the advice to save the data out of the Cloud, on a PC or PDA and on a flash or other drive, in the event the data is needed. All data must bear a large rubber and/or time stamp of creation, submission, date and time must be on each page of the data, upper right corner where it is easily and prominently visible by researchers. Each submission, current and historic, must be notarized and sworn submitted under Oath and Penalty of Perjury.

The Library of Congress is the Repository of literature. Considering much of the data is marked with a caution 'be prepared you may lose your money', tongue in cheek and in all seriousness, a respected repository for these fictions, might be the Library of a Congress, that houses the Register of copyrights, government agency that provides a safety net for Investors, in that lying to a federal agency is a crime, working towards accountability, investor protection and eliminating FINRA completely.

FINRA Form 211 must kept forever. Aggregated historic data is what effective trends are built from. Besides, whatever happened to preserving history Nd the past,unless..... Someone has something to hide. Criminology 101- If FINRA and its league members and industry participants in FINRA arbitrations and Mediations, have nothing to fear then why hide the data.

FINRA Form 211 must be updated quarterly before earnings are reported. FINRA Form 211 must be reviewed and signed off on by the accountant, to bring in an extra set of accountability towards the end goal of Investor protection. There should be an IRS reporting component in this process, too, towards the end goal of creating as many safe gates for Investor protection. Lying on IRS forms comes with severe and multiple penalties moreso when filing is done online and via the USPS mails, the point of the exercise being that transparency could have been implemented by FINRA and it predecessor the NASD and the NYSE without going through this farce of asking for Investor Comment. Just do it, as Nike says.

The original filing firm will remain on the hook for the data they filed. Selling a firm, retiring, even dying will not get a firm party absolved. Profits from their misdeeds will have to be disgorged, clawed back, from family and others enjoying the fruit of the crime.  All principles of the firm and ancillary participants to the filing will, forever, be on the hook for whatever misdeeds they were participatory to in this filing, along with all parties who touched this matter from inception through deception through conviction as there are criminal tangentials to this matter. Selling a company, changing jobs will not get one off the hook.
Quite frankly, there will alway be seven degrees of deception. As do things live in the Cloud, as in the internet, so too here. Firms do not disclose damaging data to investors. Firms sit on data exposing crimes in the Investor's accounts then taunt investors there is nothing the Investor can do about as in here case of RBC providing an investor, unexpectedly, post coerced settlement with data on an Encrypted CD, exposing RBC for not telling the Investor that RBC had known for years the Investor's accounts had been compromised by a named employee at another firm, JP Morgan. The RBC clients had never been a JP Morgan client. The JP Morgan employee had left RBC's employ over 6 years earlier, and was not a name that appeared in customer statements just in the Encrypted CD that RBC provided to the investor after coercing settlement.

FINRA Rule 211 should remove Agents Of Process from the FINRA Form 211 process and Investor equation. Let's be real. It isn't the FINRA Form 211 that is of issue, it is the process the Investor is subject to when the problem emerges that is the concern. All process should be served, duly, directly on the firm CEO and upper level management. Any and all parties pressed in to play by FINRA business league and other participants, role playing with Investors as if to be answering for the Executive Or President's office will be complicit to any and all issues raised or pursued by the Investor.

FINRA Form 211 concerns with privacy of FINRA business league members, reporting and non-reporting, is not of concern for the Investor. To the Investor, they are all the ones, opposite side of the table facing the investor during an Arbitration. Industry parties will waive any and all claim to Right of Privacy and Right of Publicity or to Investors posting their experience online in any and all forums that seek Experience feedback. Any and all FINRA business league member or industry party that submitted to a FINRA arbitration or mediation forum that threatens with litigation, libel or other, the Investors experience will be sanctioned accordingly. Any and all FINRA business league members and others who use the World Wide Web to promote their services and threatens an Investor by email or other PDA will be subject to Online Bullying claims.

FINRA business league members and Industry parties that submitted to FINRA's arbitration and mediation forums agree they are subject to investigations by the FTC and the FCC as relevant to online marketing.

The Investor will be guaranteed a day in court rather than a FINRA arbitration as provided by the Constitution.

FINRA Form 211 filers will provide in Part 2- required Issuer Information:

(I) will provide in a PDF form provided by each state, a complete list of states they, as an entity, are filed in a list of offices named on the foreign state filing(s) along with the declared value both in the state filing and the market trading value to confirm the valuations match ie. Facebook's value filed with the Nevada department of Corporations Mismatch with the same day of opening trading

(II) describing the Issuers business is not adequate. Documents retrieved from the local, state and Federal filings must be provided in PDf form

(III) services and products provided by the issuer must be supported by applicable local, state and Federal documents along with the local Business license along with documentation the entity is compliant

(IV) describing the issuers facilities is to be done with photos, ideally panoramic photos showing interior and/or exterior shots showing street names, neighboring entities, to confirm the business is bonafide. No Post office box addresses are allowed. Regus type suites would have to be identified. No "separate but unaffiliated" entity relationship descriptions are acceptable, a clearer description is needed stating not an employee nor could the broker-dealer or IA describe themselves on FINRA brokercheck as an employee. They are using the name and contact of the large firm, for  a fee. A copy of the broker-dealer or Investment Advisor signed agreement must be provided in PDF form. The name of ether Broker-Dealer or the Investment Advisor must be provided along with the number of Expungements they have requested, been granted, civil court actions, bankruptcies, tax issues, inquiries, suspensions, complaints, etc., provided, too, in PDF form, from the prior 15 years in keeping with Lexis-nexus and C.L.U.E. and Experian/ Credit Check reporting.

Part 4- Regulatory Filings
PDF's of the actual state incorporation papers must be filed along with a printout of the other entity state filings ie. XYX I, XYX II, XYX III, etc

Part 5- Certification
The FINRA business league and other industry parties that unmitigated to FINRA arbitrations and Mediations must certify in the name  themselves or family members, affiliates, partners or associates in other industry and non-industry endeavors.

FINRA form 211 will be signed under Oath and under the penalty of Perjury. Each page must be initialed, dated, sequentially numbered and overall fronted with a cover sheet signed by a Notary not employed by the Firm and subject to the False Claims Act.

One must not lose site of the other legs of the Investment Industry three legged tool, metaphorically speaking- NASAA, SIFMA, SEC, each individual state regulator, civil courts, bankruptcy courts, online data aggregate sites,mean with whom makes the image, to simplify accessing this information for the Investing Public.

 For the record, whomever builds the App to manifest this resolute solution, bringing this data together in an aggregate resolution, note, dibs are mine, royalties will be collected.

__________________________________________________________
FINRA Comment PROPOSED RULE CHANGE TO FINRA RULE 2210
__________________________________________________________

FINRA COMMENT ON A REVISED PROPOSAL TO REQUIRE A HYPERLINK TO BROKERCHECK IN ONLINE RETAIL COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE PUBLIC BROKERCHECK:

FINRA is seeking proposed amendments to FINRA Rule 2210. The Comments are to address a revised proposal “to require a hyperlink to brokercheck in online retail communications with the public.

I rubbed my eyes in astonishment and then, again, before asking myself, “Why?” and “How?” followed with “you’ve got to be kidding.” Hyperlink industry websites to expunged backgrounds and brokercheck historys that are, too often, fairytales? This is about as good as the joke “Did you hear the one about the board that voted to “amendments to its supervision rule that would require member firms to investigate the backgrounds of financial advisers applying for Finra registration” (http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20140424/FREE/140429948#)

The proposed rule addresses eliminating the requirement for a deep hyperlink to FINRA brokercheck to a firm “that are available to retail investors, rather than on all of its social media pages and proprietary sites that limit access to institutional investors” on all social media “pages, blogs and other online communications with the public” pages that are not controlled by FINRA.

That FINRA “believes the revised approach will increase investor awareness of Brokercheck, while adressing the operational concerns the initial proposal raised.”

The problem isn’t social networking. The Problem is FINRA’s brokercheck summaries which are Expunged so often it is a Citizen complaint in Congress by the Industry, seeking absolution. Expungment is to have been reserved for Special Exceptions. It is abused and used as often as the Industry actors change shoes, socks and underwear. It is as if Expungement has become a Fashion Accessory in FINRA conducted arbitrations. Yawn, I think I will get an Expungement today and then, rinse and repeat, the bad behaviours that got the industry person socked with the Arbitration to begin with.

If you get to know FINRA as I have you learn more about the smokes and mirrors of the “organization” that “merged” from the union of the NASD and NYSE. I use “scare quotes” for a reason. Run investor run.

Checking out some details before penning this, my final version of my comment, I read down the right side river of entities FINRA has fined. Excuse me while I pick myself off the floor from laughing and get serious to make some very frightening points that bely the fraud of FINRA doing anything in the name of consumer protection.

FINRA is seeking proposed amendments to FINRA Rule 2210. The Comments are to address a revised proposal “to require a hyperlink to brokercheck in online retail communications with the public.

I rubbed my eyes in astonishment and then, again, before asking myself, “Why?” and “How?” followed with “you’ve got to be kidding.” Hyperlink industry websites to expunged backgrounds and brokercheck historys that are, too often, fairytales? This is about as good as the joke “Did you hear the one about the board that voted to “amendments to its supervision rule that would require member firms to investigate the backgrounds of financial advisers applying for Finra registration” (http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20140424/FREE/140429948#)

The proposed rule addresses eliminating the requirement for a deep hyperlink to FINRA brokercheck to a firm “that are available to retail investors, rather than on all of its social media pages and proprietary sites that limit access to institutional investors” on all social media “pages, blogs and other online communications with the public” pages that are not controlled by FINRA.

That FINRA “believes the revised approach will increase investor awareness of Brokercheck, while adressing the operational concerns the initial proposal raised.”

The problem isn’t social networking. The Problem is FINRA’s brokercheck summaries which are Expunged so often it is a Citizen complaint in Congress by the Industry, seeking absolution. Expungment is to have been reserved for Special Exceptions. It is abused and used as often as the Industry actors change shoes, socks and underwear. It is as if Expungement has become a Fashion Accessory in FINRA conducted arbitrations. Yawn, I think I will get an Expungement today and then, rinse and repeat, the bad behaviours that got the industry person socked with the Arbitration to begin with.

If you get to know FINRA as I have you learn more about the smokes and mirrors of the “organization” that “merged” from the union of the NASD and NYSE. I use “scare quotes” for a reason. Run investor run.

Checking out some details before penning this, my final version of my comment, I read down the right side river of entities FINRA has fined. Excuse me while I pick myself off the floor from laughing and get serious to make some very frightening points that bely the fraud of FINRA doing anything in the name of consumer protection.

All the hyperlinks in the world from the Industry person/entities page doing add up to a hill of beans when the Investor is barred from learning how many times the person the investor just gave their life savings too has scrubbed their history lily white. The average thief doesn’t get away with the entitlement of a new start. Even cats don’t have it so good, in that cats only have 9 lives. PIABA reported that one advisor had over 35 fresh starts out of 40 complaints launched against them. FINRA brokercheck histories deceive investors.

All of FINRA’s “reviewed a selection of popular social media sites and conducted trials to determine how firms could implement the proposed requirements for third party websites.” FINRA writes “based on this review…. Determined that firms would be able to post a hyperlink to Brokercheck or a hyperlink to the firms’ website in close proximity to an associated person profile or contact information on “facebook, linkedin, youtube, pinterest, twitter” is of one benefit, to the Industry entities and individuals, opening up opportunities to meet, and maybe scam, more people sooner/faster.

An advisor who robs a client- call it what you will- churning an account, taking commissions instead of fees, stealing a clients’ identity to delay financial hacking being discovered- its all the same. It’s robbery. Yet a financial advisor or entity that robs a customer will be offered the blackmark on the financial advisor or entity cleansed from the Broker Summary while, if this was an inner city dad stealing bread to put food on his children’s dinner table, this parent would go to jail to serve time, impacting that person’s ability to get a job or vote.

Brokercheck relies on self-reporting, premise of which is the people being reported against are honest. Bad assumption. John Taft, president of RBC, testifying on Capitol Hill on behalf of SIFMA was blunt stating his clients may be successful in business but not in the market. Bernie Madoff flew under the radar of being reported. Who is going to know to tell if a financial industry representative got served or not? FINRA isn’t counting and no-one is being allowed to get the exact names, numbers and cases going to arbitration. FINRA is a private business, a non profit listed as a business league. Business leagues for industry have no motivation to keep things online where data can be hacked, expunged only when it has no meaningful investor protection or regulatory value. Once information is expunged from the CRD system, it is permanently deleted and thus no longer available to the investing public, regulators or prospective broker-dealer employers.” Recent case in Europe against GOOGLE raised public outcry against Bad Information being online the man wanted removed. Albeit 15 years earlier. Consumer want to know who their money is going to.

BrokerCheck says it aggregated professional background information on approximately 1.3 million current and former FINRA-registered brokers and 17,400 current and former FINRA-registered brokerage firms. Information in CRD is obtained through forms that brokers, brokerage firms and regulators complete as part of the securities industry registration and licensing process. How would anyone know the veracity of that statement in that NO Arbitration conducted by FINRA is cross recorded in a Government data base unless a Case escaped FINRA oversight in to the Civil Courts, either to Vacate or to Collect on a FINRA award.

No, if I knew an advisor was arrested for Petty Theft, I would not work with him. That is my decision to make, with full disclosure. No full disclosure? That means the advisor knew they have something to hide.

The FINRA site says, “The information about investment adviser firms and representatives made available through BrokerCheck is derived from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database. IAPD features professional background information on approximately 441,000 current and former investment adviser representatives and 45,700 current and former investment adviser firms and that “BrokerCheck information is drawn from filings by regulators, firms and investment professionals. It includes current licensing status and history, employment history and, if any, reported regulatory, customer dispute, criminal and other matters. It should be the first resource investors turn to when choosing whether to do business or continue to do business with a particular firm or individual.”

When one follows one matter case managed by FINRA, one can document FINRA’s warranty is not truthful. Promoting to the investing public Brokerchecks is tantamount to the airbrushing and stretching scandal of Kate Winslet to make the actress and models look thinner, better and younger. Its fraud. FINRA’s Brokercheck is deception where the fox is in charge of the henhouse.

FINRA does not vet out lawyers arguing industry people before arbitration panels. FINRA doesn’t even vet out Arbitration panelists to assure they are compliant with local laws lawyers, arbitrators must adhere to. FINRA case managers state they are overworked with too many cases. Well, well ,well, quoting Angelina Jolie in her role as Malificent…. Maybe its time to do away with expungement, replace ALL cases expunged from Industry actor backgrounds, link Investors directly to the U4’s, U5’s, Civil Actions for and against Industry parties, study to see who the attorneys are in these matters.

Do your own random poll. Ask a dozen people on the streets if they know what FINRA is or if they have heard of FINRA. Ask the person being questioned if they invest too. You will be shocked at the answers received. Ask the Investor what they would do if they had a need to sue their broker/advisor. Ask them where they would go. Then tell the investor, they have no choice of where to resolve their dispute, that its been made for them. Ask the investors if they were told by an entity fronting the SEC, if they would question the authenticity of that entity- would the investor believe that firm telling them the firm’s forum is where their dispute must be resolved. Would the investor know of other places to settle their disputes? Ask them, then, how they would feel knowing there are other options for resolution forums that are qualified to handle the dispute but they the investor is barred from using that forum because, pretty much all financial firms make the investor go to this one entity, the entity that writes the rules along with publishing the bios of the persons’ the investors are suing.

Thinking about using Industry people to coordinate any or all of the above? Don’t go there. This is gonna be one by the people for the people- getting rid of FINRA and its Industry bias. I see a theme show for American Greed comin’

Oh, yeah… and that business about FINRA fining its members? Hello, isn’t that oversite of the FCC or the FTC or the DOJ or another government alphabet soup...

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__________________________________________________________
COMMENT ON FINRA's Rules 2210 & 2214
FINRA's GOT SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO    (c) Carrie Devorah:
__________________________________________________________

I write as an individual whose voice is harmony with countless other investors funneled by the SEC into a forced arbitration with a private company. We learn lessons the hard way. It took a lot of stupid to get this smart. Nothing to do with college or stuff, just sometimes lessons need to be learned over and over again until the sad inevitable happens, learning being trusting is a horrible trait to have.

I have become too familiar with FINRA in the past few months. I have learned, read. I took time to read FINRA RULES 2210 and 2214. FINRA plays sides against each other, on the one hand writing the Rules Investors are held accountable to; on the other hand writing the Rules Industry plays with, not by, but with. It is a losing game for Investors.

I am going to focus on FINRA RULES 2210 and 2214, here and now, then a summation.

FINRA RULES 2210
(b) Approval, Review and Recordkeeping – in that 2009 was FINRA’s year of Expungement as a tool that was intended to be for special circumstances (http://www.finra.org/arbitrationandmediation/arbitration/specialprocedures/expungement/), it has become an outed FINRA scourge that, here and now, is reason to shut FINRA down.

Expungment is FINRA’s version of Tech Companies scraping metadata out of Online Content making Content an Orphan Work- no identity. Expungement scrapes away prior FINRA, and other adverse decisions off a Firms, Broker, Dealers, Advisors, etc past so while, on the one hand FINRA has a Broker/Advisor check on the site, FINRA.org, in itself, that check is a fraud on the public, in that the public will not know what the Advisor/Dealer/Firm did wrong or how many times. One Legal Industry Advocacy group pointed out in their press conference online the example of an advisor with 40 complaints against them, 35 of which were wiped away, which meant for the consumer considering placing their savings with this individual, their money was at risk, great risk.

Mind boggling to me is the imbalance of the system, that some in society can have their sullied even criminal behavior backgrounds wiped away, expunged, but others, like people who served time in prison, even youth falsely accused of sexual crimes or jailed for years, are forever branded, even to the points where they live is on the Internet fostering neighborhood outcry against them, rightly or wrongly. How is it that Repeat Financial Crime offenders, which is after all what inappropriate actions with an investors money is, can be wiped away.

Any and all change to this Rule, should only be to stop Expungement and, as I am want to do when I talk about Intellectual Property crime, is advising that “warning” or “alert” be put page top, upper right, FLASHING.

Any Financial Advisor that has any crime against them, FINRA or other, should not have their backgrounds expunged. All the backgrounds that have been expunged within the past then years, should be put back in to the FINRA histories online, what FINRA sees should be 100% transparent to the investing consumer public.  If not, then all criminals listed above should have their backgrounds expunged too.

(1) Retail Communications                          
A clearer definition of Retail Communication is needed to include what is posted on a website not just what is sent in letters.

(2) Correspondence                          
Correspondences must be kept no less than 7 years. Consumers should be advised in writing to maintain a paper printout of all correspondences warning the Internet is an unsecure environment subject to hacking and changes and is vulnerable to being altered.
                                                           
All correspondences sent back and forth between client/Industry should be sequentially numbered setting the matter up from the getgo to mitigate Industry fraud perpetrated on Investors

(3) Institutional Communications        

(4) Recordkeeping                            
SEA Rule 17a-4 is clear how long records must be kept. Any Industry person brought to FINRA arbitration failing to provide these records is to be found in Contempt under Federal Law in that FINRA is a neutered agency with no civil authority but defers to Federal Law in absence of FINRA rulings. Any lawyer representing in a FINRA proceeding their client has none of the SEA Rule 17a-4 to produce, will themselves, be reported to their overseeing Ethics Committee, barred from representing in future FINRA matters and the FINRA case manager, overseeing the Arbitration in which the lawyer/Industry person allege they have no records, is to (i) immediately report the matter (ii) call a halt to the Arbitration (iii) which the Investor shall automatically win, in that FINRA rules require records kept 6 years. Claims are held within statutes of 3 years which means the Records are to exist. They don’t? Case over.

Any FINRA case manager failing to comply with FINRA rules of Record keeping is to be fired from FINRA immediately, barred from working in an industry related job, for life.

(c) Filing Requirements and Review Procedures  

              
(1) Requirement for Certain Members to File Retail Communications Prior to First Use Transparency in the information age means “on the internet.” FINRA must create a “Good Housekeeping Seal Of Approval” that is posted/updated annually with a new badge, no different than the way vehicles are re-registered annually with the DMV or in the way organizations provide year-date stickers to update membership badges with or in the way FINRA employees show ID cards for access into the FINRA buildings, difference being, FINRA members are getting access into investor pockets under the false belief this FINRA member has been looked at, annually, making warrantees under the penalty of perjury and jail time. FINRA slaps wrists. It has no authority to jail a fraud, just to pass them forward with recommendations in to an already crowded judicial system. This would be a step towards educating the public as to what is a fraud who looks like your neighbor next door. No annual update. No hands in investors pockets.

(1) Requirement for Certain Members to File Retail Communications Prior to First Use                                                       
The same model above would be implemented here. IF there is no Sticker with the signature of approval, then it simply does not go live. A balance and check here is, for example, the system in place by the DCRA, where an investor should be able to go to an appointed site, in person if they so chose to, and request a certified with a Seal of the Jurisdiction in which the Institution, Industry person are conducting business. It is illegal in the District of Columbia to conduct business without a business license. It is a wrong presumption that an industry person is licensed to do General Business, which is different and apart from doing Financial Business in any jurisdiction around America without that local General license. There needs to be an immediate system in place to (i) educate the public the Financial person they are considering working with is not licensed locally which is a tip off that if the person/entity is defying local law, then that is a red flag they are defying FINRA Rules and Federal Law
                                                           
What is also important is to create a system of accountability of employees within FINRA who are to be reminded they are working for a private company which in itself says they are not above the law. At issue, currently, within the Patent Industry is overbreeding, so to speak, of patents, without proper vetting that granted patents are not infringing, at the USPTO rubber stamping level, on other patents being approved. Accountability starts at square one. IF a FINRA employee understands they will be held accountable in a Civil Court for their behaviours, failure to do diligence, this may stem the flood of Financial fraudsters approved by FINRA on to the unsuspecting little investor. Moreso, the role of any agency with oversight is not to say “yes” to every application that comes its way, but in the vein of the TV show “say yes to the dress” the role of FINRA is say no to a whole lot of applicants before the FINRA version of “yes, to the dress” is approved.

(2) Requirement to File Certain Retail Communications Prior to First Use               
FINRA requires Retail Communications to be filed prior to First Use. FINRA must require in writing these Retail Communications  are to be provided by the Industry person/entity in all FINRA proceedings as stated above in (4) Recordkeeping. Any Industry Respondent and their Counsel alleging this information does not exist is violating the Oath taken in the Arbitration and, in the case of the Attorney, is knowingly participating in a Fraud being perpetrated on the Investor in that FINRA Rule 2210, requires this information be filed with FINRA. All the Industry Defendant and their Counsel have to do is get it from FINRA. Likewise, any FINRA case manager and/or Arbitration panel that does not defer to FINRA Rule 2210, forcing this information being produced will be barred from arbitrating within future financial forums, found contemptuous for interfering in a judicious forum and, should have every prior arbitration they participated in and/or presided over, brought back for review not in FINRA, in that FINRA failed once “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” school of thought but in the Civil forums, recommended too, for (4).

(3) Requirement to File Certain Retail Communications           
Must be produced as stated above.

(4) Filing of Television or Video Retail Communications Must be produced as stated above. Recommend the Television or Video Retail communication have a FINRA reviewed/approved mark on it, like the MPAA, Motion Picture Industry places on product their membership puts forth with warning, of Frauds, etc. though the Entertainment industry addresses Piracy. Point being, the appearance of a warning, albeit it general, will get investors to ask questions of the Industry institution/individual they are considering placing their life savings with. In that Television and video are gone the way of Vimeo, Pinterest, Mobile, etc, this category, now, should state all current and future digital evolution, getting FINRA Rules and law enforcement ahead of the Industry fraud that is exponential with Technology growth.
                                                                                    All Website, television, video, entertainment communications must on the home page include a warning that online life can become a silent sickness in that no one is over one shoulder to stop that one Click from becoming 100 Clicks in a day in an hour except that each Click on an online trading platform comes with a price and at a cost and with a label of addiction, illness, day trader. The Communications FINRA Rules over should include both a verbal warning and a site/platform pop up the User must read then click through to show they are aware of their next steps. Each and every time the User goes on to the platform, the Voice Over and pop up must appear, if in fact FINRA is about Investor protection.
                                                                                    Message Boards should be closed down in their being populated by firms paid to promote product driven up and down by outside disrupters.

(5) Date of First Use and Approval Information

(6) Spot-Check Procedures                                     
Spot-check procedures should not be limited to contact with Industry entities/persons, they should be available to the Public. To avoid potential allegations from Industry entities/persons, the format followed should be the format used by retail service providers such as Safeway, Rite Aid, etc. where a menu of options as to service are given adressing worst to best with the last stop being a paragraph to put additional information, in to. Feedback on these sites do offer participation in a draw. That would not be viable in this forum. What would be viable incentive is an invitation to a lunch with other investors which would be a Roundtable providing valued insight. Roundtables are held routinely by the USPTO, LOC, etc. Though FINRA is not a government agency, as the mind boggling, only vendor industry selected to uphold Investor Integrity, FINRA is under SEC and Congressional oversight but with one difference, a lock around it tighter than that of a medieval chastity belt that even FOIA’s cannot pierce. That must change.
                                                                                       
FINRA may be a private company, more correctly, a non profit. As a Non Profit, it has accountability, it seems legal minds do not address. One cannot be a non-profit and not be accountable to the public.

“A nonprofit is a tax-exempt organization that serves the public interest. In general, the purpose of this type of organization must be charitable, educational, scientific, religious or literary. This is a common and broad definition that fits the type of information likely to be found at this site. The public expects to be able to make donations to these organizations and deduct these donations from their federal taxes. Legally, a nonprofit organization is one that does not declare a profit and instead utilizes all revenue available after normal operating expenses in service to the public interest. These organizations can be unincorporated or incorporated. An unincorporated nonprofit cannot be given federal tax-exempt status or the designation of being a 501(c)(3) organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service. When a nonprofit organization is incorporated, it shares many traits with for-profit corporations except that there are no shareholders.” (http://www.nonprofit.pro/nonprofit_organization.htm) Two hundred and thirty five FINRA employees contributed to Glassdoor (http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/FINRA-Salaries-E108071.htm) Investment News published FINRA CEO’s salary for 2012, 2011 (http://www.investmentnews.com/gallery/20130702/FREE/702009999/PH#) which Investment News Retrieved from FINRA’s Annual Report (http://www.finra.org/web/groups/corporate/@corp/@about/@ar/documents/corporate/p291721.pdf)

(7) Exclusions from Filing Requirements

(8) Communications Deemed Filed with FINRA

(9) Filing Exemptions

(d) Content Standards         
Despite FINRA Rule 2210 stating “(1) General Standards”

 (A) All member communications must be based on principles of fair dealing and good faith, must be fair and balanced, and must provide a sound basis for evaluating the facts in regard to any particular security or type of security, industry, or service. No member may omit any material fact or qualification if the omission, in light of the context of the material presented, would cause the communications to be misleading.

(B) No member may make any false, exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory or misleading statement or claim in any communication. No member may publish, circulate or distribute any communication that the member knows or has reason to know contains any untrue statement of a material fact or is otherwise false or misleading.                             

Any Arbitrator/Panel that is given documentation of any part of the proceeding of misleading communications should be made aware failing to address lying under Oath will barr them from arbitrating and/or participating in the Financial Industry for life, in that what is missing, within FINRA, is the seriousness of the proceedings before the Arbitrators within the FINRA forum. The Arbitrators will be stripped of their mediation/arbitrator licenses, permanently.

A Member disclosed to have made “false, exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory or misleading statement or claim in any communication” is subject to laws on the books. At this time, FINRA, is playing a role of Government watchdog in that FINRA was sole-pointed by the SEC to address Investor disputes, that then should simply make anyone lying within a FINRA forum, accountable for lying to a Government employee/agency along with all the other issues, too.
                                               
(2) Comparisons                              
How is the FINRA intake person to know what is correct or not. With all of the government lamplight on the IRS, the reality is a person sitting in Utah is not going to have counter knowledge of papers submitted by a someone in Silicon Valley or K Street or Wall Street. Bluntly put, it is a case of garbage in- garbage out. For a difference to be made, Civil penalties must be stated. Respecting FINRA is a neutered agency, the laws on the books are stated in the Penal and Criminal Codes which should be stated in the FINRA Rules (i) the applicable code and/or (ii) actual citation. This puts both the FINRA employee, the Industry person on notice, they are liable for a crime, and facilitates Law Enforcement and Judicial system this matter may come before.

(3) Disclosure of Member's Name               
The Member and Institution must disclose ALL their names- middle names not just the initial and all social media Alias’ ie twitter handles, facebook, linkedin, email addresses etc- business and personal, along with business’ names they are concurrently involved in while in the Financial INdustry. Bottom line, this is a time saver when matters go to Legal Action. The question of privacy should not even be addressed here. Rules are the divorce before the marriage, no  different than the thousands of years old wedding contract, the Ketubah, that spells out what the wife gets if the husband dies or they divorce. Technically, this document signed before the wedding, mitigates the rancor down the road, because the “all” is agreed to. Investor Public gives Stranger Industry money. In the event Stranger Industry books it with Investor Public’s assets, then tracking Stranger Industry down or where the money may have been diverted to is a little bit easier, ideally, a whole lot easier.

No Industry person should be allowed to list a black box entity ie a holding company in to their CRD/IARD/FINRA Report. Each and every business involvement that Industry person is involved in during the time they involved with Investor money must be listed. Moreso, there should be a cooling off period of no less than 14 business days during which the Investor will be able to contact those entities to have confirmed that Investor person has been factual. That said, the WIPO representative discussing the after blush of the Marakesh Treaty being signed showed examples of Frauds within the Patent/Trademark office that have increased since going online. No system is going to be perfect. This is a speedbump to slow problems down.
                               
If the Industry person fails, the potential remedies, for below, have been described above
“All retail communications and correspondence must:
(A) prominently disclose the name of the member, or the name under which the member's broker-dealer business primarily is conducted as disclosed on the member's Form BD, and may also include a fictional name by which the member is commonly recognized or which is required by any state or jurisdiction;
(B) reflect any relationship between the member and any non-member or individual who is also named; and
(C) if it includes other names, reflect which products or services are being offered by the member.”
                                                                       
Best is for a “family tree” of sorts to be provided from the Industry entity/person, to the Potential Client. That Family Tree will state (i) the company structure (ii) date the employees came on board (iii) other businesses the company has under its roof and the relative dates (iv) who works on what accounts (v) if any/all are part of a non financial industry company in that address (vi) CRD numbers, for the moment FINRA report hyperlinks. Sure, its a lot of work. That is the point. To force FINRA to do what it alleges it does, protect investors. It does not. There is the parental answer to the protests this will generate, if you don’t like it, leave. If Industry people don’t like it, leave. These recommendations are about making this system work easier for the good Advisors and Entities and to shake the others out of the Industry.

(4) Tax Considerations                                
Defer for this back to FINRA arbitrations. Any case manager failing and/or refusing to force Industry entities/member to produce their Tax documents for all requested entities and years, is to be found in Contempt for (i) interfering in a judicial process and (ii) bias against the investor, in the least. FINRA requires records to be kept 6 years. Arbitrations have a 3 year statute to be filed within. An Attorney sending a USPS or Internet Communication these Tax Records do not exist, is to be reported to their governing entity and barred from FINRA proceedings. As said earlier, if this Failure to Order Industry to disclose is discovered in one matter, that is grounds for every prior Arbitration to be reviewed with clean eyes to see if the matter was a one off or pattern of Intent to which there would be Civil review under applicable Civil procedures. Oh yes, reported to the IRS.

(5) Disclosure of Fees, Expenses and Standardized Performance           
This is addressed in other locations adressing process and procedure

(6) Testimonials                                            
A false testimonial or misleading testimonial has a remedy on the books. What must be stated is if the person received compensation of any imaginable type along with their 7 Degrees of Separation relationship to the Entity/Individual and for how long

(7) Recommendations                                  
Every recommendation must have the simplistic Who, What, Where, When, How listed and date all data was filed with FINRA and if there is a relating case/file number

(8) Prospectuses Filed with the SEC           
Adressed above

(e) Limitations on Use of FINRA's Name and Any Other Corporate Name Owned by FINRA             
As blunt as this is written, shaving cream, in that it is simple enough for FINRA to visit any and all sites they have membership with, to see if the Hyperlink to FINRA’s website is present. If not? Shut the site down before more Investors are hurt, using the School of Thought, people that break the simplest of rules, rarely walk a straight line between point A and B. In a heartbeat of finding the Hyperlink rule violated, contact the domain holder and shut them down. Part of this conversation that is not to be ignored is the culpability and involvement of Tech Companies in facilitating the online explosion of hucksters and shysters. There has to be written in to FINRA Rules, a balance and check to slowing this entities down from Popping up as easily as a DIY, do it yourself website allows one to do, case being here- money, savings, here today, gone tomorrow. Most likely if and when Tech Companies are taken out to the back shed for paddling over their proliferating ARTS, Photography and Written Content theft online under the false defense of Safe Harbor and Fair Use, across international borders, there may be a drop in frauds setting up shop.
                                                                       
Moreso, in that “shop is set up in Mail Box drop addresses rather Brick Adresses that vet out to be real estate grounded. This steps back to the prior point that a Financial Entity must post online its local business license number, local to the zip code they are physically based in and claiming allowed to do business in. This will raise havoc with larger entities who blanket “e” approve “independent agent across the United States. The FINRA Rule must include that Agent in DC approved in every state of America to secure a license from each of those states. A lot of trouble for the Entity/Individual to do? Yes. That is the point when it comes to dealing with the little persons life savings.
                                                                       
The FINRA Report and the Industry entity/individual relationship description must match. If the FINRA Report states the Member is an Employee of the Industry Entity, then there can be no signature on the Industry Member email/letters/promotional material/websites/or anywhere stating they are “separate and unaffiliated” or any other version of  those words. It is a Tax Dodge according to  some. It means something very real to the little investor told by FINRA’s hotline reps to look at the FINRA Report which states XYZ ABC is an employee of JOHNDOEISABOUTTOGETFLEECED. Employee to the Investor is Employee. Separate but unaffiliated sounds like a couple who broke up and want nothing to do with each other. You cant be a little bit pregnant. Employee or Freelance/Independent Contractor. That relationship has to be distinctly defined and positioned, top of the letterhead/printed stuff, website/ business card.

(f) Public Appearances                                
This ball of wax is a lot to address. Simplified? An industry person cannot hold seminars if the SEC IARD/CRD says they are not approved. How FINRA is going to separate an in person seminar in a hotel ballroom that rakes in big bucks from an online course or youtube video can be simplified along with (i) no One Size Fits The Whole Company approval and (ii) in person courses must be taken with integrity unlike the Expungment Course FINRA provides to Arbitrators, a 1 ½ hour online course, that similar to trading at home, has no balance and check of being caught cheating ie by printing the “course” out. (http://www.finra.org/web/groups/arbitrationmediation/@arbmed/@arbtors/documents/arbmed/p125419.pdf)

(g) Violation of Other Rules

(9) Filing Exemptions
What is not being addressed above but must in addressed in the FINRA Rules as part of the Review is that (http://www.finra.org/Industry/Issues/Advertising/FAQ/)  are companies like MARKIT that have access to Investors Retail holdings, sending them daily updates. One SEC employee stated the SEC does not approve of these. Then, stop them. Shut them down along with Algorithms used to stalk users online violating privacy as the Tech Industry continues to cross product, platforms, share data a lot of which is being directed by Entities off shore. At heart here are the Technology companies and, yup, the VC’s seeding companies as if there is no depression going on. It comes down, I was told, to laws on the books. The same Algorithms used to predict Flash Trading are being used to predict people. Dude, hey, visited your site once. Left. So go away. Get it right FINRA and the SEC, Public Companies are infuriating and impacting the little people and the Watchdog over this Henhouse is not Clean Hands.

SUMMATION
The core tenet of American law is ‘every man is entitled to his day in court.’ Congress, with oversight of the SEC, forgot this in approving the little person forced into a procedure not of their peers. “Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. is a private corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization” according to Wikipedia. Not enough little man investors know that. Where in America does it happen that a man’s right to justice is taken from him. There isn’t an option of like companies for the little man to choose from. Just FINRA.

The American judicial system allows for different levels of discourse to enter the dollar relative court. Except here, where in many lives of investors, each dollar counts. To investors, I repeat, in that the FINRA system puts investors in front of a panel not of their peers- retired lawyers looking to supplement pensions or other and, at least one industry person. There is never knowing the prejudice of that industry person to stand with their own against a Claimant as the little investor becomes known. All it takes is one ‘hot mic’ moment, to prove that point, of an Industry person scoffing at a dollar amount to finally shine the lamp on a truth that will not, this time, be swept under the rug.

Text of FINRA Rules 2210, communications with the Public, appears to have been released in 2012, (http://www.finra.org/web/groups/industry/@ip/@reg/@notice/documents/industry/p127016.pdf)

Definitions include:
(1) “Communications” consist of correspondence, retail communications and institutional communications.
(2) “Correspondence” means any written (including electronic) communication that is distributed or made available to 25 or fewer retail investors within any 30 calendar-day period.

This Comment is similar to the legendary story of the Professor who put a test on each of his students desk. The room was soon filled with students doing the silliest of things. One student sat, read, signed, handed in his paper then left the room. The last directive on the page said, “sign here, hand the paper in then leave.”

The “sign here, hand the paper” is the last point being made here. The SEC has failed in that President Obama, in 2010, effected for ALL government agencies a simple Act this does not comply with. The Act, HR 946, is called the PLAIN WRITING ACT of 2010. Congress knows this too. They wrote it.

Section 2, states, “PURPOSE. The purpose of this Act is to improve the effectiveness and accountability of Federal agencies to the public by promoting clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.
(http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr946enr/pdf/BILLS-111hr946enr.pdf)

Sometimes one wishes Congress read their own Acts.  

The Act requires that 9 months after the Act was passed, the SEC, along with other Agencies, was to have appointed a designee to oversee the SEC implanting the Act, teaching SEC staff the requirements of this Act, train SEC staff how to write plain and to have a process in place to make sure the SEC is compliant, in lockstep, with the Act. And, best part, put a plain writing section on the SEC site.

This is 18 months after the Act was passed. An Annual Compliance report from that agency head/appointee showing the SEC did what it, and other government agencies, were told to do. Write English even a 5th grader can read- using Jeff Foxworthy’s standard. The NYT standard is the 8th grade reading level of comparison in the literary world.

Upon reading a letter adressing the Acts open for Comment, it is simple to see, the SEC isn’t ‘there.’ Take a lesson from NARA (http://blogs.archives.gov/foiablog/2011/07/29/more-on-plain-writing/)

___________________________________________________________
COMMENT ON SEC PROPOSAL FOR J.O.B.S.                               (c) Carrie Devorah : ___________________________________________________________

COMMENT ON SEC PROPOSAL FOR
JOBS
Jumpstart Our Business Startups

© Carrie Devorah    
info@centerforcopyrightintegrity.com
May Be Used and/Or Distributed Only With Permission
FAIR Use must be applied for and granted FIRST
FOUNDER
THE CENTER FOR COPYRIGHT INTEGRITY
www.centerforcopyrightintegrity.com


                THE SEC CROWDFUNDING MANIFESTO


585 pages.

I was determined to read the proposed securities rules for crowdfunding under “Jumpstart Our Business Startups.”

And then the news broke- Ubuntu Edge did not meet its goal of $30 million dollars so it was returning all of the over $12 million dollars it did raise through Indiegogo’s Crowdfunding platform. And then it was reported a 9-11 Twin Tower conspiratist crashed the post-Super Bowl press conference. I chuckled. I had completed reading the 585 page proposal for SEC rulings addressing Crowdfunding. And I had made these notes, amongst others:

1-     Ubuntu Edge has to return all of the over $12 million it crowdfunded through Indiegogo. Note to self- saw nothing in the 5858 proposed regs addressing Crowdfunders returning monies after having failed to reach their goal [http://www.zdnet.com/ubuntu-edge-smartphone-sets-crowdfunding-record-but-still-20m-short-of-target-7000019487/ ] Well, not quite. According to ZDNET, “Initially backers needed to pledge up to $830 to get a phone but Canonical later lowered the price to $695 and said it would refund anyone who paid over that amount for a handset.” It seems all the money may not be going back to “investors.” Except……

2-     9-11 Twin Tower conspiracy theorists strike again. Any c-span listener can tell of the countless times this co-ordinated group accesses morning conversations under the guise of contributing to the theme when their coordinated goal is to get “media brags” to fundraise off of. And this was in a public place with security where the Press Conference crasher can be seen from a mile away coming. How the (&@#& blazes is the SEC going to ramp up their security for Crowdfunders when the “Crashers” aka “hackers” cant be seen coming or going… Target, anyone? [http://www.frequency.com/video/identified-mvp-super-bowl-911-truther/147491770/-/5-2514495 ]

By page 378, I opted for an alternative route to my quest. “Keywords.” I knew the words that hold my interest these days. …. for starters.

In an IOT, Internet of Everything world, there are things, like these Keywords which are, well, not only important to Content creators but also obvious choices to Search for. I didn’t see these words. I did the next best quicker “search” thing. I  “Hit” Ctrl then F and entered those words I was looking for.  The “Search” requests came up “0 for 0” “Hits.

Copyright

Patent

Trademark

Infringement

Spam

Hack

Fair Use

Safe Harbor

Crowdfunding

I began by looking for definitions of “Crowdfunding” knowing that Crowdfunding is an age old idea as is car-sharing even in DC. The New York Avenue Church in Downtown DC was “crowdfunded” with bricks and dollars. Hitching a ride on the back of a wagon from Mount Vernon to the City of Washington was “car sharing,” more correctly at that time, mule and wagon sharing. The Better Business Bureau gives a good one….

The Better Business Bureau warned “Crowdfunding billed as “investments” are under scrutiny and, in some cases, may be illegal…” It continues “Crowdfunding isn’t an investment in the traditional sense. Unless it is specifically stated, you don’t own a piece of the business, invention or project. Consider your funds a donation.
[ http://www.bbb.org/blog/2013/06/crowdfunding-sites-grapple-with-fraud/#sthash.QrSYJU9t.dpuf ]

SEC.gov/plainwriting page states they “appreciate the public's help to assess our progress on plain writing. If you have comments or suggestions about our implementation plan, or have difficulty understanding our documents or the pages on our website, please contact us at PlainWriting@sec.gov.”

The SEC manifesto made no reference to Congresswoman Ann Wagner’s Retail Investor Protection Act passed October 2013 while bowing to the JOBS Act. The JOBS Act says its’ worry is for investors. Something is out of whack when the JOBS ACT is 22 pages  [ http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3606enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr3606enr.pdf ] and the Retail Investor Protection Act introduced by Rep Ann Wagner (R-MO2) is only four [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr2374 ]

The Retails Investor Protection Act was intended to defend Investors instead the JOBS Act defines them, without Remedy. Wagner’s Act failed in its purpose. Arbitration denies Americans their Day in Court and Due Process.  The dirty little secret of Wall Street and investment isn’t its con men and women, but that Investors are forced into “voluntary” Arbitration as mandated by the SEC where statistics release numbers like 91% of Investor filed Arbitrations fail to bring justice to Investors. Investors, if they are lucky, might, recoup 12% of their losses. Tribunals are either direct industry of connected. The Arbitrators are biased against Citizen Investors.

Not only does the 585 page Proposal fail to understand the Crowd seeking funding, it fails to grasp the experiences of the Retail Investor. Let me explain the reality of adressing Crowdfunding complaints through the SEC system of forced Arbitration that 585 pages of Legalese missed.

91% of Arbitrations either make no award to Investors or find against Investors for alleged “bad faith” for succumb to the retail investors only forum for legal redress the SEC ordered Arbitration. Judgements are made by inexperienced volunteers picking up retirement or day pay to sit on these panels where they listen to he-says-she-says without necessarily reading the documents worked on by both defense and claimants’ counsel to present the facts. The Arbitrators may not have experience in document investigation or simple realities of data protection of locking up Discovery Binders at the end of an Arbitration day where the Exhibits cannot be added to or have documents taken from or be looked at by 3rd parties. Imagine how one Claimant felt watching one of the Arbitrators on their panel sleep and the Chair not wake that Arbitrator up or replace them. Imagine how one Claimant felt when the defendant provided Arbitrators a “reason” why the Arbitration was not self reported within 30 days of filing as required under FINRA rules, something pointed out to the Arbitration Panel who,

clearly did not have the FINRA rules in the Arbitration with them to look this rule up. Participants are told their testimony is under the Penalty of Perjury. SEC does not publish statistics on how many or if any Industry Advisors and/or Brokers are ever charged an convicted under Perjury. One claimant had it in black and white that an Industry Professional was not listed in Barron’s two years in a row as testified to by the Advisor, yet the Arbitration ignored that publication’s editors electronic communication stating why the Industry Professional was not listed two years in a row….

All of the above are a drop in the bucket of the SEC oversite and the SEC Mandatory Arbitration process history of complaints and frauds that are examples of why even deferring or referring to Wagner’s Act was not a step forward in protecting Retail Investors. Shall we say “Madoff”, anyone? Or refer the authors of the 585 page manifesto to forced viewing of the TV show American Greed? Adjudication of SEC matters must be removed from SEC Forced Arbitration and put into the Court of Law promised to the Retail Investor by the US Constitution.

The US Constitution guarantees Due Process. Due process developed from clause 39 of the Magna Carta in England in which John of England promised as part of the “law of the land” something the Founding Fathers kept when America’s Constitution was established. As follows: "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land."

In a pre-internet world, making dreams happen was a possibility even a likelihood for ARTS content creators and everyday people to. But in an IOT, Internet of Everything world driven by VC’s and Angels, Content Creators succeeding and profiting off their Content is a challenge. ARTS Content creators Intellectual Property, ARTS Content creators Identities, ARTS Content creators Rights of Publicity, are stolen within seconds of being posted to the ARTS Content creators website, where the ARTS Creators content is taken to become the fodder fueling many Technology Innovation Nation start ups.

The proliferation of online sites bundling names, faces, photos, articles by private people, without their permission, is exponential. Private property is taken then used as Content in their start-up, without permission or license. Start-ups create tools that scrape metadata from Copyrighted Content. Investors throw millions in  Seed Money at start ups found at Pitches, Boot camps, Hackthons, Demos, Founder Circles or SXSW. Taking Content without paying a dime is not frowned upon in a Copyright Freed agenda. Site creators go through Round A through to Round C. Projects receive valuations in the billions even without making a profit. 

Google defines Crowdfunding as “crowd·fund·ing   ˈkroudˌfəndiNG/noun      noun: crowdfunding; noun: crowd-funding”                                                                     
1. the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.  "musicians, filmmakers, and artists have successfully raised funds and fostered awareness through crowdfunding"

Filmakers, Artists and musicians are generators of Content. Content is the most frequently stolen commodity on/off  the Internet. While there are musicians and filmmakers making headlines daily on pursuing theft/piracy of their content, my community, that of the Artist/Photographer has been badly represented by entities who either pursue the same-old-same-old approach for ‘defending copyrights.’ Frankly, anyone doing such and collecting a paycheck and NOT moving the Copyright Conversation ball forward, is, not thinking outside the box as Artists do to resolve an issue but are, collecting paychecks.

I established my site The Center For Copyright Integrity   [ www.centerforcopyrightintegrity.com ] upon understanding the agenda of the Tech world, coupled with Venture Capitol, and predicting, quite effectively where the ball is going for 2D ARTS Creators IP, ID and for law Enforcement. Law enforcement is doing the best job that they can in a culture that is on steroids when it comes to Online Theft and constant emerging Technology’s precipitating the Tsunami of Enforcement Issues they struggle to keep up with. Moreso, the US Attorneys around the country and their counterparts around the world are struggling to identify how crimes are done, discovering details after crimes are committed. I established my site to bring together the experience of ARTS Content creators, regulators and enforcement from around the world.

Why? Look at Ubuntu’s Ingiegogo campaign…SIXTY THREE countries participated. I don’t see that foreign touch being addressed effectively in the 585 page manifesto at all, moreso, in an exploding world of Cryptocurrencies. Over 81 countries around the world are participating in this Virtual currency that Idea on the brains and talents of other people’s IP, violating Title XVII, and Title XVIII. There is no “mother may I” moment when it comes to a great idea like Google Books which took first and asked later or similar aggregate sites that build profiles of persons without permission then posting to their site page “If You Are Not…..” the person, putting the cart before the horse rather than the legally correct way.

There is no mention of foreign entities  massively involved in the gathering of Private Data for, cough, Algorithm predictions. There is no mention of requirement to comply with local law, pay taxes, Federal Regs. There is no mention of who, in a VC-Venture relationship is the Superior Person in the Supervisorial Position of “the buck stops here.” Litigation after litigation waiting to happen.

Without these questions being answered, maybe Crowdfunding platforms need to limit themselves to the mom & pops and musicians and artists and cancer and other patients the platform started off intending to benefit- people with a dream they would not otherwise fulfill. MAYBE what the SEC needs to do is cap a limit that Crowdfunding on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo can run up to before it is no longer called Crowdfunding and called with it is, Venture Capitol and Angels with a giant exception. VC and Angels have terms of repayment and or terms of participating in the profits moving forward, algorithm or otherwise, while JQ Public citizen, gets their name on a Forever page, or a T shirt or a mug, or like disaster donations sent for overseas uses they hope the money goes,  to show for their contribution. A warm fuzzy feeling.

The 585 page manifesto is not at all about warm fuzzies. It is about a lot of nice feeling being projectiled in to a lot of sleepless nights.

I went back to the Table of Contents to see if in fact I had missed the ‘Keywords” I listed. 585 pages written by lawyers, staff and other, for Regulators out of touch with the reality of the task they assigned themselves to take on, in the name of the Investor.   This Bill has an idea where it is going. It is not for protecting Retail Investors or Intellectual Property owners. This Bill should go nowhere.

Crowdfunding is the “newest” thing to regulate. The SEC wants in but using the old rules. Adressing the elephant in the room?  Not going to work IF the laws are to be obeyed and upheld. Taking someone’s content without permission is stealing. Profiting off the stolen property, also falls under the Criminal Code.

It beggars the mind, that Legislators asked staff to draft the 585 page proposal  without a “Tip Sheet” laying out the issues that plague Content Creators and Retail Investors.  

 So much of Crowdfunding involves Intellectual Property. It is important to slow down the rate at which Intellectual Property is being stolen online. Crowdfunders stand to be dragged into a suit against their “fundees” if they Crowdfunder is accused of Intellectual Property theft.  Recommend regulations, is the Crowdfunding Act, begin with a declaration that  “Stealing Intellectual Property for Use without license, comes with Statutory Damages. Stealing is a Crime.”

Section 107 of Title 17 sets out four factors to be weighed when determining whether or not a particular use is fair.

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work                      [http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html ]

#4 states, If using someone’s copyrighted work kills the value of their work or its potential market, then it is not Fair Use,

#3, says, IF too much of the piece is used or is pretty damn near the size or can be reproduced then it is not Fair Use.

Millions of dollars are tossed by Silicon Valley and Venture Capitalists for ideas that makes one scratch their head and go why and who for, when dollars that will pay down college debt, put food on the table, fund a meager or better livelihood, carry an Entrepreneur through hardship in that they don’t have weekly paychecks coming in hence are not eligible for Unemployment, Social Security, Pensions, etc. Content creators are who the JOBS act is not for. The JOBS act is messing up UNLESS it is written into the SEC regs that proof positive of ownership of photos, ARTS, music, Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents must be put forward even before the guts of the Crowdfunding conversation goes too far past, hello.

Funding a concept using people’s names, addresses, phone numbers? Run the idea up the flagpole to see if it passes the Data Brokering smell test? Is it like a Spokeo? Well, then an FTC problem will be on the horizon. Storing data? Who is

on staff able to predict and avoid virus’ like Reedum, the nemesis of Target and Neimans? Brokering deals between riders and people with cars? Are drivers compliant with local regs? If not then the risk is what happened. An Uber driver killed a 6 year old girl New Year’s eve. Possibly, each and every person in the Universe of Uber stands to be sued. 

Problem is Congress and Regulators write rules that aren’t practical to the world of the departments saddled with implementing them. It is painful to listen to live coverage of the Banking Committee hearing. Senator Elizabeth Warren figured  out the limitations of the FTC limitation of authority, stating that Data Security issues are not going to go away. Classes are held to educate staff lawyers on the new rule guidance. And then, turned loose the public, decisions are made by individuals who get them wrong as often as they get them right. Candy, anyone? The USPTO granted “fire extinguishers” as a category… go figure. The reality is opening day is when fraud begins and continues most often until it the fraud is caught. As with the debate in Congress on the IRS and War on Conservatives, the cold hard truth is that there are many entities both sides of the political aisle filing papers that go unseen until someone brings the idea forth to the Oversight. The SEC calls them Whistleblowers. The IRS calls them Whistleblowers. There is no Whistleblower for FINRA or for the USPTO. Case in point a hard edge designer whose staff presented themselves as Attorney of Record. They are not. Declared all the items filed for were in commerce since the days of Moses and then in a FINRA arbitration stated they were not designing until after the complainant stopped being their client? USPTO’s remedy? Well, none. If a complaint was made, with no protection for the Reporting Violator, then maybe it would be determined the Trademark owner would lose their marks.

There really isnt a whole lot of much said that is new in the proposed Manifesto. Other than questions. It is filled with a whole lot of the same-old-yada-yada one finds when reading filings. Boiler plate language that Lawyers and Wonks tend to defer to. There is little said addressing crisis issues in conversation on Capitol Hill. No conversation addressing Immigrants, H1B visas, or the like the Tech Industry is campaigning for. No obligation of Social Conscience in light of Google’s Eric Schmidt’s bomb that Tech is driving away jobs from unskilled labor.

How will the SEC manage the new derivative concepts of Crowdfunding that are emerging like Mirrored Crowdfunding intended for people who want to manage their campaign from their own website at the while the Campaign is launched from the more public site? [ http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/07/indiegogo-will-now-let-companies-set-up-mirrored-campaigns-on-their-own-sites/ ] I don’t recall seeing this addressed in the 585 page Manifesto, yes, I continue to repeat. IF the SEC cant

be trusted to follow President Obama’s directions of the Plain Writing Act Of 2010, then how the heck can the SEC be trusted with oversight of something, in plain English, far more complex.

Menlo Ventures site [ www.menloventures.com ] says “Venture investing is all about discovery and partnership, transforming vision into reality” that “Great venture capital investing requires the ability to see opportunity where others see challenge. “Crowdfunding is too powerful and makes too much sense for it only to invest in silos,” CEO James Beshara told VentureBeat. “Kickstarter [or Indiegogo] is not the future of crowdfunding.” [http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/07/indiegogo-will-now-let-companies-set-up-mirrored-campaigns-on-their-own-sites/ ] The SEC’s manifesto projects their vision of the future of Crowdfunding has long been here. And their agenda is not about you and me.

The 585 page Manifesto did not adress Crowdfunding being professionally pumped with the likes of Google Adsense, Twitter and or Facebook “Sponsored Ads.” There did not appear to be addressing the issue of Spam, in itself, a model that may coyly package and fundraise through Crowds generosity and empathy. The North American Securities Administrators Association said more than 8,000 Web domains with “crowdfunding” in their names were registered after the JOBS Act was signed, ¼ had Content. The other ¾’s were squatting. Waiting.

Take-aways are listed below – a Balance and Checks Routine and the Better Business Bureaus Cautions to Consumers:

Better Business Bureaus Cautions To Consumers
“I Want to Give to a Crowdfunded Project. What Should I Consider?”:
One- Word to the wise, it says, “Investigate before you give. Look beyond the project profile page to learn about the entrepreneur, artist, charity etc. Are they on Facebook or other social media? Do they provide links for further verification?

Two- Don’t hesitate to request more information. You can always reach out before pledging.

Three- No matter what, only give money that you can afford to lose. The best way to avoid stress is to set a budget for yourself and have fun.

Four- When giving to a crowdfunded charitable cause, keep in mind  that contributions are usually considered gifts to the recipients and are not tax deductible unless the group receiving the funds is a 501(c)(3) organization as designated by the Internal Revenue Service.

Five- Report suspicious accounts. On Kickstarter, you can hit the”Report this project” button at the bottom of the project page. Then provide as much detail as you can (links to the page with the concern, links to an account, details of the problem, etc.) [ http://www.bbb.org/blog/2013/06/crowdfunding-sites-grapple-with-fraud/#sthash.QrSYJU9t.dpuf ]

 Balance & Check Routine and Rules for Retail Investor and Content Creator Protection:
One- Give each investor their day in court

Two- Give each Content Creator their day in a dedicated IP court as is used effectively overseas

Three- require brokers/advisors and all entities, for transparency, to provide quarterly reports to investors just the way RIA are required under SEC form ADV Part II. Investors need routine. They need to know the law protects them by requires the crowdfunders to release transparency documents every quarter. NO, not something buried somewhere on a website mass of clicks but a paper print out of the quarters activities- a royalty report so to speak

Four- Each broker/advisor must, at the top of their Agreement with the Retail Investor state their FINRA/CRD number and give, then and there disclosure if for any reason at all they have had Complaints by prior customers

Five- Each broker/advisor must give full disclosure as to ALL business entities they may have under a Holding Company to assure, the Holding Company is not a Shell the Advisor/Broker then pulls “magician’s rabbits” out of. The Broker/Advisor must provide a local Regulatory ID number with a local agency ie in DC it is the DCRA, to confirm the Broker/Advisor is a legit tax paying entity.

Six- If the Broker/Advisor/Crowdfunder has multiple businesses under the same roof, with one staff working in any or all of those entities in any role, the Broker/Advisor/Crowdfunder must give full disclosure at the Get Go along with providing accountat compliancy statements. It is all about giving the wronged Retail Investor and/or Content Creator avenues for Restitution, helping determine if the companies are shell companies, out of compliant companies or….

Seven- Must disclose if they are a Haven State Corporation dba locally providing all dates/numbers of all incorporations, local, and federal

Eight- The Regulators would do well to create all the above into a simple one sheet checklist of these disclosurse signed at the getgo.  

Too much paperwork? Not at all. It is about saving paperwork and aggravation down the road.

There are too many regulatory agencies with toe stepping and an explosion of data unless “a quarter back is coming on board. Get Retail Investor Resolution away from Arbitrators. And cut the hydra off from its head…. When Technology Search Engines and VC are held accountable for behaviours conducted through them and when their abusive definition of Fair Use and Safe Harbor and correctly defined, the drop in abuses will be significant.

Company builders, market experts and excellent board members are words that describe venture done “right.”  There is a legal definition of Right, its called the Law. Without deferring to the law, without stemming the rush of ideas being Venture/Crowd/donate funded to get out there to capture Algorithms for marketing dollar data projections, “Right” means not moving forward on any project without assuring it complies with Regulation, respects Intellectual Property Content creators, Retail Investors and Enforcement Agencies saddled with maintaining the law.

Its not about a law at the Civil Level. It’s about enforcing the Criminal Laws already on the books for Fraud, Deception and so on [http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18 ]

With Crowdfunding popping up in previously unimaginable niches, generating millions of campaigns and billions of bucks around the world giving Creators, Startups, Good causes and Small Businesses a potential channel to raise funds wanted for projects, one must ask what is the new “Small,” what is the new “Good”, what is a new Startup and what is the fate of Content Creators, the question has to be asked adressing maintaining the Law…. Isn’t it better to perfect what is already on the books- protect the Content Creators, Protect the Retail investor otherwise…. Civil Penalties… FTC, USPTO and the SEC

bluntly, it’s a con…. Or should I say, a Bitcoin of a Manifesto…..

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