September 17, 2009
Ms. Elizabeth M. Murphy
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549
Dear Ms. Murphy:
I have just been made aware of the fact that FINRA, a Brokerage Industry arm, wishes to change the rules regarding Broker Disclosure by shortening the period covered to only two (2) years. How or why the SEC would even consider such a proposal is beyond me.
Our firm handles customer complaints and we use Broker check quite often. In reality, it often takes more than 2 years to complete a case by which time, under the FINRA proposal, there would be no record of the original complaint. While it goes to the absurd, if Bernie Maydoff was ever able to get out of jail and get his license back, in two years it would appear that he never had any complaints lodged against him. In fact, under their proposal as it now stands, FINRA will tell an inquiring public that there is no record of a Bernie Madoff or the Broker who stole money from an elderly client's account or the Morgan Stanley Brokers in Rochester, NY now barred from the industry because of their false and fraudulent actions in prompting early retirement decisions for 100's of of our clients.
PLEASE, do not allow FINRA to engage in this type of cover-up. Just as criminal record availability serve to protect the general public, so does a COMPLETE Broker check.
Very truly yours,
Michael W. Malarney
Michael W. Malarney, Esq.
The Pearl Law Firm, P.A.
1159 Pittsford Victor Road
Suite 220
Pittsford, New York 14534