October 17, 2024 • 11 mins
The World’s Second Oldest Profession. www.watchdogonwallstreet.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski The.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
World's second oldest profession. We all know what the oldest
profession is, right, The world's second oldest profession is something
I've been saying for a long time. Get rich quick connartists.
There was a story week ago in the New York
Times and it brought back memories, not good memories by
(00:40):
any stretch of the imagination, brought back memories. It's going
back to She's probably from like two thousand, I'd say,
probably from two thousand and four, two thousand and five,
all the way to two thousand and nine when the
scam collapsed. They start off talking about this couple that
(01:01):
learned that their million dollars savings went up in smoke
back in two thousand and nine, and this was due
to the fact that they were dealing with the guy
by the name of Robert Alan Stanford. You might remember this.
They had commercials all over TV. He had an army
(01:23):
of brokers selling CDs certificates of deposit billions of dollars
in CDs, and he sold them to people all over
the world. And this wasn't something that was hidden. He
was advertising. It was on radio, it was on TV,
(01:45):
it was everywhere. Oh my god, this guy would flaunt
his wealth and private jets. And I was the only
one out there at the time, this radio program. We
were the only ones yelling and screaming like I did
back in the day. My frustration coming through, warning people
(02:10):
that this doesn't make any sense, this doesn't add up.
You can't tell me that to plus two equals twenty No,
not em twenty four hundred and five hundred, because that's
what this guy was saying. He was selling this Stanford
Financial I was selling CDs out of a bank in
(02:33):
Antigua at levels of return that were just impossible, impossible.
I was simply asking the question, how in the world
are they able to pay these rates of interest on
these dollars? How is it possible? I don't have CDs
(02:54):
working on how banks work, it's it's not even that complicated.
Quite Frankly, bank borrows money at a certain rate, lends
it out at another rate. So you mean to tell
me that the Bank of Antigua was making a higher
rate of return on billions of dollars and then able
(03:17):
to pay out all sorts of money, all sorts of money,
at a much much higher It made absolutely no sense. Again,
his firm was based in Houston, Texas. He was all
over TV, he was sponsoring sports teams, everything, And we
(03:40):
told you it's not real. It's a fugacy. Two thousand
and nine, all of a sudden, the oh, the security
is in Exchange Commission decided to decided to step in,
decided to step in. This is right after Bernie Madoff.
You mean to tell me that you people over the SEC.
(04:03):
You couldn't tell that this was a scam. You couldn't
figure this out. And this is one of the things
that I have warned people about for years and years
and years. You think that there are people looking out
for you, You think FINRA, you think the SEC. You think
there's some sort of cop on the beat. They're not.
(04:25):
They're not Again. Twenty twelve, federal prosecutors charged Stanford with
diverting investor money to invest in real estate and to
finance his life style. He's in jail now. He's in
jail for one hundred and ten years. The couple in
(04:46):
this New York Times are lost a million dollars. They
made again the unfortunate mistake to sell their claim, their
claim on any recoup money to another investment firm. They
sold it for sixty thousand dollars, so they got they lost.
They put in a million. They sold their claim on
(05:07):
anything that in the claims are coming down now think
about that is twenty twenty four. They sold it for
sixty thousand dollars. They're gonna, you know, they could have
gotten about three hundred and fifty when all was said
and done, TD agreed to pay about one point two
(05:28):
billion to settle claims accusing them of ignoring red flags
about Stanford's operations. Anybody, any anybody would half I'm sorry,
anybody would half a brain knew that this was a scam.
Anybody would have half a brand, just as much as
you know, you had all of the I remember talking
(05:52):
about back the day, all the penny stock operators out there,
the uh you know, the the the Straton, oakmontsor Monroe,
you go right on down the list. You do realize,
you do realize that all of these companies they didn't
have clearing agents. They worked with bear Stearns, they worked
with Lehman Brothers. They worked with the big firms out there,
(06:13):
JP Morgan to clear traits. You mean to tell me
that those big firms didn't know that these firms were
ripping people off. Of course they did. They don't care.
They don't care. They're making money, you know, providing a service.
They wash their hands of it. They'll take the money
and they'll wash their hands again. It was another who
(06:38):
else it's got to dole out some money as well,
another another one of the clearing agents out there. Total
claims right now is four point nine billion dollars, twenty
thousand customers around the globe. Again, hedge funds have bought
about seven hundred million dollars in claims. This is from
(07:04):
the New York Times here and this is one of
the people they interviewed. The Horror Here is a bunch
of these hedge funds bought these claims from needy people.
She lost about four hundred thousand. She and her husband
did not sell their claims despite receiving many offers. So
they were fortunate that they could do that because her
husband was working at the time. It's sad is how
(07:25):
long it took to actually come up with this money.
And again, hedge funds, they understood this. People are upset,
want their money, they want to retire. Okay, we can
sit on it. We'll buy your claim, We'll pay you
off pennies on the dollar and we'll collect later. On
Another lady here, this gene Mayhall victim. They her mother
(07:48):
sold her claim because she was tired of waiting, because
the lawsuits against the banks dragged on for so long
that many customers gave up. She held on to her
five hundred thousand dollar clas but she knows more than
a dozen victims who died waiting to get any money back.
Some of the biggest hedge funds have bought these things.
(08:09):
Contraaring Capital, White Box advisors for Aliyan Capital Management, nineteen
hedge funds and other investors bought the claims. I mean again,
they knew that they were going to pay out. And
it's almost like the quite frankly, that the fix is on.
The fix is on. You know, they know, they know
(08:30):
they can extend this as long as they can. They
know these people it's their retirement money. Thought that they
were buying CDs, you know, make people wait, they'll settle,
and then eventually settle, and then they go ahead and
then they end up making money on the scam. Again. People,
I you have to understand. I know, I repeat myself
(08:52):
often I do. I say it again and again and again.
Everything in life that has meaning, value and worth involved work,
time and effort at any time. You see, I mean
you ce d people think see that it's guaranteed. I'm
sticking my money to the bank. How do how does
one ever ask yourself? How? How aren't you the slightest
(09:15):
bit curious how someone is able to provide an extraordinary
above I mean it's not above average. I mean this
was three, four or five times as much as what
banks were paying at the time on CD rates. How
is a bank bank in the Caribbean island nation of Antiqua.
(09:40):
How are they capable of doing that? Again, I know
it's it's you know, one of the bridges at this
point in time. People, But you have to ask yourself
these questions. You have to you have to understand that
there are no shortcuts in life. And like I said,
(10:04):
this brings back memories for years years on my radio
show at the time, I'm yelling and screaming about this
born I remember this. You know it's firm, you know,
reaching out, you know, you keep your mouth shut. We're
coming after h I'm like, I don't care. Go ahead,
what are you gonna do? You know you're a scam?
(10:26):
Aren't you frightened? They're gonna come? What they're scam? Well,
what are they gonna do? They're gonna collapse? And it's
it's again, It's part of the frustration. And what what
I do here on this program is that, uh, you know,
I yell and scream about these things, and people choose
(10:49):
not to listen. It's like trying to warn people knowing that,
you know, you know that something horrible is going to
happen to them and to their money, and they choose
not to listen. Watchdog on Wall Street dot com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski The.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
World's second oldest profession. We all know what the oldest
profession is, right, The world's second oldest profession is something
I've been saying for a long time. Get rich quick connartists.
There was a story week ago in the New York
Times and it brought back memories, not good memories by
(00:40):
any stretch of the imagination, brought back memories. It's going
back to She's probably from like two thousand, I'd say,
probably from two thousand and four, two thousand and five,
all the way to two thousand and nine when the
scam collapsed. They start off talking about this couple that
(01:01):
learned that their million dollars savings went up in smoke
back in two thousand and nine, and this was due
to the fact that they were dealing with the guy
by the name of Robert Alan Stanford. You might remember this.
They had commercials all over TV. He had an army
(01:23):
of brokers selling CDs certificates of deposit billions of dollars
in CDs, and he sold them to people all over
the world. And this wasn't something that was hidden. He
was advertising. It was on radio, it was on TV,
(01:45):
it was everywhere. Oh my god, this guy would flaunt
his wealth and private jets. And I was the only
one out there at the time, this radio program. We
were the only ones yelling and screaming like I did
back in the day. My frustration coming through, warning people
(02:10):
that this doesn't make any sense, this doesn't add up.
You can't tell me that to plus two equals twenty No,
not em twenty four hundred and five hundred, because that's
what this guy was saying. He was selling this Stanford
Financial I was selling CDs out of a bank in
(02:33):
Antigua at levels of return that were just impossible, impossible.
I was simply asking the question, how in the world
are they able to pay these rates of interest on
these dollars? How is it possible? I don't have CDs
(02:54):
working on how banks work, it's it's not even that complicated.
Quite Frankly, bank borrows money at a certain rate, lends
it out at another rate. So you mean to tell
me that the Bank of Antigua was making a higher
rate of return on billions of dollars and then able
(03:17):
to pay out all sorts of money, all sorts of money,
at a much much higher It made absolutely no sense. Again,
his firm was based in Houston, Texas. He was all
over TV, he was sponsoring sports teams, everything, And we
(03:40):
told you it's not real. It's a fugacy. Two thousand
and nine, all of a sudden, the oh, the security
is in Exchange Commission decided to decided to step in,
decided to step in. This is right after Bernie Madoff.
You mean to tell me that you people over the SEC.
(04:03):
You couldn't tell that this was a scam. You couldn't
figure this out. And this is one of the things
that I have warned people about for years and years
and years. You think that there are people looking out
for you, You think FINRA, you think the SEC. You think
there's some sort of cop on the beat. They're not.
(04:25):
They're not Again. Twenty twelve, federal prosecutors charged Stanford with
diverting investor money to invest in real estate and to
finance his life style. He's in jail now. He's in
jail for one hundred and ten years. The couple in
(04:46):
this New York Times are lost a million dollars. They
made again the unfortunate mistake to sell their claim, their
claim on any recoup money to another investment firm. They
sold it for sixty thousand dollars, so they got they lost.
They put in a million. They sold their claim on
(05:07):
anything that in the claims are coming down now think
about that is twenty twenty four. They sold it for
sixty thousand dollars. They're gonna, you know, they could have
gotten about three hundred and fifty when all was said
and done, TD agreed to pay about one point two
(05:28):
billion to settle claims accusing them of ignoring red flags
about Stanford's operations. Anybody, any anybody would half I'm sorry,
anybody would half a brain knew that this was a scam.
Anybody would have half a brand, just as much as
you know, you had all of the I remember talking
(05:52):
about back the day, all the penny stock operators out there,
the uh you know, the the the Straton, oakmontsor Monroe,
you go right on down the list. You do realize,
you do realize that all of these companies they didn't
have clearing agents. They worked with bear Stearns, they worked
with Lehman Brothers. They worked with the big firms out there,
(06:13):
JP Morgan to clear traits. You mean to tell me
that those big firms didn't know that these firms were
ripping people off. Of course they did. They don't care.
They don't care. They're making money, you know, providing a service.
They wash their hands of it. They'll take the money
and they'll wash their hands again. It was another who
(06:38):
else it's got to dole out some money as well,
another another one of the clearing agents out there. Total
claims right now is four point nine billion dollars, twenty
thousand customers around the globe. Again, hedge funds have bought
about seven hundred million dollars in claims. This is from
(07:04):
the New York Times here and this is one of
the people they interviewed. The Horror Here is a bunch
of these hedge funds bought these claims from needy people.
She lost about four hundred thousand. She and her husband
did not sell their claims despite receiving many offers. So
they were fortunate that they could do that because her
husband was working at the time. It's sad is how
(07:25):
long it took to actually come up with this money.
And again, hedge funds, they understood this. People are upset,
want their money, they want to retire. Okay, we can
sit on it. We'll buy your claim, We'll pay you
off pennies on the dollar and we'll collect later. On
Another lady here, this gene Mayhall victim. They her mother
(07:48):
sold her claim because she was tired of waiting, because
the lawsuits against the banks dragged on for so long
that many customers gave up. She held on to her
five hundred thousand dollar clas but she knows more than
a dozen victims who died waiting to get any money back.
Some of the biggest hedge funds have bought these things.
(08:09):
Contraaring Capital, White Box advisors for Aliyan Capital Management, nineteen
hedge funds and other investors bought the claims. I mean again,
they knew that they were going to pay out. And
it's almost like the quite frankly, that the fix is on.
The fix is on. You know, they know, they know
(08:30):
they can extend this as long as they can. They
know these people it's their retirement money. Thought that they
were buying CDs, you know, make people wait, they'll settle,
and then eventually settle, and then they go ahead and
then they end up making money on the scam. Again. People,
I you have to understand. I know, I repeat myself
(08:52):
often I do. I say it again and again and again.
Everything in life that has meaning, value and worth involved work,
time and effort at any time. You see, I mean
you ce d people think see that it's guaranteed. I'm
sticking my money to the bank. How do how does
one ever ask yourself? How? How aren't you the slightest
(09:15):
bit curious how someone is able to provide an extraordinary
above I mean it's not above average. I mean this
was three, four or five times as much as what
banks were paying at the time on CD rates. How
is a bank bank in the Caribbean island nation of Antiqua.
(09:40):
How are they capable of doing that? Again, I know
it's it's you know, one of the bridges at this
point in time. People, But you have to ask yourself
these questions. You have to you have to understand that
there are no shortcuts in life. And like I said,
(10:04):
this brings back memories for years years on my radio
show at the time, I'm yelling and screaming about this
born I remember this. You know it's firm, you know,
reaching out, you know, you keep your mouth shut. We're
coming after h I'm like, I don't care. Go ahead,
what are you gonna do? You know you're a scam?
(10:26):
Aren't you frightened? They're gonna come? What they're scam? Well,
what are they gonna do? They're gonna collapse? And it's
it's again, It's part of the frustration. And what what
I do here on this program is that, uh, you know,
I yell and scream about these things, and people choose
(10:49):
not to listen. It's like trying to warn people knowing that,
you know, you know that something horrible is going to
happen to them and to their money, and they choose
not to listen. Watchdog on Wall Street dot com
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