February 16, 2015
COMMENT 2015-32: SEC PROXY VOTING ROUNDTABLE
[this comment is (c) Carrie Devorah, May Be Reproduced Only With Permission] (The SEC has permission to reproduce this Comment)
That the United States Securities & Exchange Commission will address technology as a way to “provide better access to information” is ill timed and mind boggling in a year of Flash Trading, unexplained highs and lows, and reporting on $300 million to over a billion hacked from banks around the world, not to forget, Bernard Maddoff, and team, convictions for digitally altering client accounts along with Spoilation and Recreation of client accounts.
The Internet is not a forum to replace good old fashioned paper and pen ballots with. The Internet is a forum in which Identities are “replaced” with fraudulent, untraceable recreations or creations of Identity moreso with the advent of TOR project, Underground Railroad, Silkroad and other software funded by the State Department, used in impacting overseas politics.
Moreso, in light of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission, SEC, accepting from FINRA, under contract for no payment, FINRA’s expunged histories of complaints against Brokers-Dealers, Brokerages, Investment and other advisors, currently called “Financial Consultants”, it is ballistic even inconceivable to consider how the SEC is not stepping back to a world of original signatures, original document preservation that will improve Retail Shareholder trust in the SEC’s broken system.
FINRA is an SRO. FINRA is not THE ONLY SRO. The SEC Investors Act allows for potential of multiple SRO’s to create competition not FINRA’s monopoly.
To be more correct, there should be no SRO’s to address Retail Customer complaints of alleged Financial Crimes, when it comes to Retail Customer fund management. The SEC should close down FINRA, barr creation of future SRO’s and, to create Retail Customer trust for participation, tell Retail Customers to go to the police, to Law Enforcement when crimes are suspected in Client’s accounts. After all, when you suspect someone stole your wallet, do you go to the wallet industry SRO or to the police.
That is a duhhh factor, for the Retail Shareholder, unaware that the FINRA history of a Brokers-Dealers, Brokerages, Investment and other advisors, currently called “Financial Consultants”, may be a myth emanating from i)claims against Industry unreported to FINRA or even on the U4
(i) claims against Industry unreported to FINRA or even on the U4
(ii) removed from the U4 without FINRA having caught that removal
(iii) FINRA not acting upon this disclosure of the removal without following FINRA’s own protocol being followed
(iv) FINRA requiring confidentiality agreements to be signed before the Complainant customer receives penny on the dollars of the claim to be returned(v) FINRA requiring the Complainant customer to agree to expunge, delete, from the Industry Respondents history before the Complainant customer receives penny on the dollars of the claim to be returned
Retail customers will slowly build Trust with Wall Street only when Financial Industry Wall Street crimes are reported to Law Enforcement who in turn reports these crimes to FINCEN who in turn builds a proper database of Financial Crimes.
Retail customers will slowly build Trust with Wall Street only when Financial Industry Wall Street Criminals are processed through the transparent Court system instead of being hidden in FINRA’s “vegas” of a DRS system where ‘what takes place in FINRA stays in FINRA’ continually putting Retail Customers at risk. Just watch the TV show “American Greed.”
Retail customers will slowly build Trust with Wall Street when a Retail Customer can look up in a Civil, Criminal database if the Industry crime/criminal not reported by FINRA to law enforcement has a criminal background, rap sheet, fingerprinted, and loses the same civil liberties the Retail Customer would lose for stealing a loaf a bread let alone life savings and sums in to the millions.
The Internet, unless the SEC, is an Ostrich with its head in the ground in a world of daily hacks and cyber blackmail being disclosed- Sony, Banks and customer accounts- is not a place through which to trust. That said, for Retail shareholder participation to start to be rebuilt
(i) get rid of any and all SRO’s
(ii)remove forced arbitration
(iii) replace forced arbitration with Forced reporting crimes to police, the Wall Street version, currently lacking of “See Something Say Something”
One other recommendation for the SEC to build Retail Shareholder trust and towards building Retail Shareholder participation is to create a Citizen Seat on the SEC Advisory council, someone not a CEO of a major corporation, someone not former industry, not a wonk, not a pundit, not a lobbyist, now a lawyer, a real person to sit there holding all others accountable to the real world experience of Wall Street v Main Street through personal experience.
I want to be that person. Hint.
Sincerely Carrie Devorah
(documentation available upon request upon review of requestor’s statement of purpose)