[quote=karina234]

Read this, then click "Not Your Typical Securities Call Center"

http://www.nasd.com/web/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&ss DocName=NASDW_016181&ssSourceNodeId=1391

[/quote]

How many investors do you suppose will see that?  How many of those investors will be clients of Merrill?  How many of those clients of Merrill do you thnk will wade through it?  Of those who wade through it how many of them will think 1) Big deal so they gave away tickets to concerts and 2) I have no idea what a registered principal is, nor can I see how it matters if somebody has passed an exam or not.

Of those who do not think like that how many of them do you suppose will pull their accounts from Merrill?

Answer?  Zero

Now what about the other side of the coin.  How many of Merrill's competitors will try to steer a prospect who is either currently with Merrill or considering going to Merrill to the NASD compliance memo?

Perhaps a few.  But you know what will happen 99 out of every 100 tries to do that?  The prospect will think, "Damn if that is happening at Merrill it must really be bad where this guy is from.  I think I'll put my money in a CD and think about this some more" or "I'll just put my money with Vanguard."

When things like this hit the media it's best just to ignore them, like your clients will.

What about MPV Securities?

New Jersey, Florida, New York and Texas.....that's where the worst boiler room type shops, or crooked branch offices anyways, still operate....no?

I was at one of those First Jersey spin-offs for two years and I think it was the best sales training I had. Of course, I’ll do it ethically today. But when you’re in a room of ignorant 22 year-olds, everyone making money, and nobody allowed to read the Wall Street Journal or hear any real securities news, it’s tough to believe that what you’re doing is wrong. However, those places intill an excellent work ethic (Mon-Fri: 830am to 5pm, dinner break, then 7pm to 830pm, and 3 hours on Saturdays). The movie Boiler Room was pretty accurate with most of it but the ending was ridiculous. The FBI didn’t need any secret informants or office raids. As another poster said, they let Robert Brennan run multiple firms for 10 year without a license and they already had all the dirt on him. In fact, Brennan owned racehorses and would name them after the judges that he appeared in front of. Oh, and his golf course was called “Due Process.”

Brennan, using his First Jersey bounty bought Garden State Park. Garden State Park was a first class race track running "A" circuit horses. The grandstand burned down in 1977. After years of failed attempts to find developers to rebuild the track Brennan came in and bought it. To his credit he did a first class job and built a grandstand, clubhouse and auction pavillion that were, at the time, the best in the country. Unfortunately, being Bob  Brennan, he spent too much money building the place to offer decent purses. The quality of racing declined from top tier to bottem shelf. And with it went attendance. Brennan sold the track to another company that thought running broken down claimers was a solid business strategy. Meanwhile horse racing's most modern facility slipped further and further into disrepair. The track finally closed three years ago and there was a free for all as locally politically connected developers split up the land. Today we have a Home Depot, Wegmans, Barnes and Noble and some of the ugliest town houses ever built. The property is only 1/4 developed.

On another note, A wall street whiz kid bought Brennan's mansion in Breille NJ just to tear it down. Brennan had swindled the Kid's parents. Cost yourself seven figures to make a point, Now that's being seriously pissed.

tjc, I always enjoy reading you & san fran brokers insight into the biz and some of the history of it.

Is all this stuff really gone though? I mean are there still pockets where little shops like this operate?

read this to get a clear idea od operations of typical boiler rooms in the old days

http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/Enforcement/Proceedings/SOA/soa_200 00328_acmacpherson_genodellarocca.jsp