On page 38 of the May 2008 cover story, “How Do You Like Me Now?”, Registered Rep. misquoted class-action attorney Jonathan Levine regarding information he gathered from brokerage clients invested in auction-rate securities. Levine, who is representing a class of ARS investors at Girard Gibbs LLP, is quoted in the story as saying, “All of them said ‘shame on me’ [for not doing more due diligence].” In fact, almost all of the nearly 600 investors he interviewed said they felt duped by their brokers, who uniformly represented the securities as safe, liquid, money-market-like instruments. Only some of those investors Levine spoke with expressed a “shame on me” attitude for not further investigating their brokers' recommendations that they invest in ARS securities. But even this latter group of investors, primarily people employed in the financial services industry, stressed that they didn't conduct better due diligence because their brokers assured them the securities were safe, liquid money-market-like investments. Registered Rep. regrets the error and any confusion this may have caused.
