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Strategies & Market Trends : Pump's daily trading recs, emphasis on short selling -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Deeber who wrote (5286)	8/19/2001 7:51:31 PM
From: XBrit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6873

Ugh! IANAL and do not play one on TV, but... I assume you've already read every word of your brokerage account agreement? I think most of them specify binding arbitration, don't they? It sounds to me that the original recorded phone call is critical here. So at least, try to pin down the exact time you made the call. You might also ask your lawyer if there's any way he can demand a copy of the tape from the broker. A sub-poena requires that a suit has been filed I think, not sure if arbitration procedures allow sub-poena type stuff.

To: Deeber who wrote (5286)	8/20/2001 12:59:02 PM
From: Mark L.	Respond to of 6873

I am sorry about your loss. You should get a lawyer and try to get restitution from the broker. Having said that, I believe the stock in question is PNSO. If so, you must have realized that the reason that companies do 26:1 splits is to run the stock, not because of some underlying business purpose. People who do such things are typically not followers of Mother Teresa, and they usually have associates among market makers and brokerage firms. The whole idea is to suck money from retail buyers by whatever method they can. Good luck, but I suspect that you will have a long, drawn-out battle with people having different moral standards from the typical Merrill Lynch broker. Hopefully other readers will profit from your bitter experience. Buying bulletin board stocks with weird split or spin-off characteristics, or where the promoters claim they control a small float, is playing with fire. Sooner or later, you will be burnt badly.

To: Deeber who wrote (5286)	8/20/2001 1:06:31 PM
From: Mark Davis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6873

What was this, a reverse split of a 10 cent stock? And when you sold the shares and counted that 50k free money, did you really think you had hit the lottery :-). You may or may not have a case, but I think you should have realized that trying to "monetize" a clerical error is a risky business at best. PS Your quote "I trade several stocks a day too, so not always easy to keep track of them all." Maybe the broker will make the same claim, lot's of customers, hard to keep track of them all.

To: Deeber who wrote (5286)	8/20/2001 1:27:33 PM
From: doubtit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6873

Deeber - What is the symbol of the stock that split 26:1?

To: Deeber who wrote (5286)	8/20/2001 6:44:12 PM
From: Michail Shadkin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6873

Deeber - My thoughts on your PNSO situation I personally think you have a very poor case. You were boxed PNSO. Your long shares were split incorrectly (basically twice, meaning 2 different 26 for 1 splits) You tried to capitalize on a clerical error. I am sure you have signed an agreement when opening an account that covers clerical errors. No arbitrator will rule that you didnt know what was going on after having an extra 50k shares in your account all of a sudden. You were probably speaking to some rookie broker that made a mistake in his conclusions. You then proceeded to dump your new found shares and claim your prize. (btw, what was the rush. you should have slowly sold them in tiny lots over numerous weeks and got $3 instead of driving it to $2) My advise: Hire an attorney who specializes in securities law and try to settle this case without going to arbitration. You will have to pay at least 33%, maybe 40% of your settlement to the lawyer. Arbitration is very tricky and very unpredictable. Settle fast and move on is my advise. In my eyes, the fact that they took their time and some rookie made an error in judgement is irrelevant. The final result was proper accounting for the split and in the end that is the most important point. Best of luck to you. Michail

To: Deeber who wrote (5286)	8/20/2001 11:12:33 PM
From: bbgold	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6873

Hi Deeber, I have been reading about your predicament. Let me know how it turns out. I would think that if the broker had a leg to stand on then they would have correctly shown your shares as being short within 3 days after the transaction. If they did not show the shares as short then that would justify your position that you believed the shares were yours. Did you have more than 50k shares after the split or was that your entire position? I have a friend who prints out a statement of his account at the end of Every trading day just in case their are Any discrepencies the next day. How many people pay that much attention to Every trade Every day? Perhaps it is something that you might consider to do in the future. I agree that the broker is at fault unless you knew with Certainty that the shares were not yours. It will definitely be a legal battle and I think that you might be able to use the fact that the information in your account was misleading to you well after the 3 day settlement date. At best you should be able to recoup any loss incurred after that date when your account was incorrect. Best of Luck to you! Sincerely, bbgold :^)