Tim O'Connor's Blog

Ponzi Schemes, Private Placements and Pickpockets

Hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed out of Capital Region households in the past decade for investment into private placement investments.  So, what is a private placement investment, anyway?  Private placements are investments which claim exemption from the registration requirements of the federal securities laws, thereby bypassing the more rigorous, legal, financial, accounting, and […]

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Immediate Annuities? FINRA Cautions Seniors on Immediate Annuity Fraud.

Although immediate annuities are oftentimes sold as a simple, straightforward, guaranteed investment, they can be packaged with many different forms and features.  For example, Immediate annuities such as variable annuities are hybrid products, given their dual characteristics of being both insurance products and securities products.  Immediate annuities and immediate annuity products packaged in a variable […]

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THE RIGHTS OF INVESTORS PREVAIL IN NEW YORK STATE COURT OF APPEALS (ASSURED GUARANTY (UK), LTD. V. JP MORGAN INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, INC.)

New York small investors score victory in Assured Guaranty (UK), Ltd. v. J.P. Morgan Investment Management, Inc. As a follow up to our earlier blog dated August 1, 2011, on December 20, 2011 New York State Court of Appeals affirmed the order of the lower court dismissing the efforts of J.P. Morgan Investment Management, Inc., […]

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Most Victimized Investors Don’t Know Their Rights

Investment fraud and stockbroker fraud takes many different shapes and forms, and most investors don’t know their rights under the Securities Law.  Wrongful trading activity in the accounts of the everyday American investor can include account churning, private placement fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, annuities fraud, stock manipulation, unauthorized trading, and embezzlement. Securities fraud can […]

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The McGinn, Smith Debacle – Over $100 Million Lost. Will the Victims Ever See Justice?

A feature article of the Albany Times Union dated Sunday, September 18, 2011, entitled “Investors Left Adrift in Scam Case,” portrayed the stories of a number of victims of McGinn, Smith who have lost a substantial portion of their life savings.  As indicated in this article, most of what is left of their purported private placement investments […]

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