Financial "Innovation", Part 2

'Free Lunch' Seminars Can Entrap Seniors
Association President and CEO Marc Lackritz did say in a statement that "flimflam artists and fly-by-nighters with their gimmicks and come-ons undermine the public's trust and have no place in the financial services industry."

No place in the financial services industry? Really?

Henry Blodget
In December 1998, he predicted that Amazon.com's stock price would hit $400 (which it did a month later, gaining 128%). This call received significant media attention, and, two months later, he accepted a prized position at Merrill Lynch. Blodget's influence continued to increase, and, in 2000, he was voted the No. 1 Internet/eCommerce analyst on Wall Street by Institutional Investor, Greenwich Associates, and thestreet.com. In early 2000, days before the dot-com bubble burst, Blodget personally invested $700,000 in tech stocks, only to lose most of it in the years that followed. In 2001, he accepted a buyout offer from Merrill Lynch and left the firm.

In 2002, Eliot Spitzer published Merrill Lynch e-mails in which Blodget allegedly gave assessments about stocks, which conflicted with what was publishing publicly. In 2003, he was charged with civil securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He settled without admitting or denying the allegations and was subsequently banned from the securities industry for life.