Why are investors hesitant to bring claims? Public Investor Foundation Video: "Trust Me!?"

On November 18, 2016, the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association ("PIABA") Foundation posted a video that uses the recent Wells Fargo scandal to highlight that conflicts of interest are a root cause of many financial downturns and bad investment recommendations.  

The video features victims as well as many securities arbitration attorneys who explain why investors are hesitant to hold their brokers responsible for bad investment recommendations and fraud: 

Reason #1: Investors Blame Themselves.

Reason #2: Advertising Cultivates Trust.

Reason #3: Investors Do Not Understand their Legal Rights

The bottom line:  Investors who suspect that they have a problem should seek out an attorney in the experienced representing investors.  

Important First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Decision on Auction Rate Securities

On November 21, 2016, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals issued an interesting and important securities decision involving state and federal securities fraud claims against Bank of America Securities (now known as Merrill Lynch, by merger).  The claims boils down to an allegation that Bank of America fraudulently sold tens of millions of dollars of auction rate securities ("ARS") to a large customer, Tutor Perini Corporation.

The decision provides a primer on ARS, risks associated with them, and what Bank of America knew (and when) about ARS.  The decision contains a great deal of nuanced discussion about risk disclosures, reliance, and other elements of securities fraud claims (and defenses).

Tutor Perini has a few more hoops to jump through, but should get its chance to present its claims to a jury, hopefully sometime in 2017 (in a case it filed in 2011, judging by the docket number).