Ajamie Tom - Financial serial killers: inside the world of Wall Street money hustlers, swindlers, and con men

Its astounding the number of people who are instrumental in getting a book done, particularly a first book from a team of authors.

First, I would like to thank Kathryn Lineberger, who listened to my many stories of sleazy brokers and fraud beginning in 2007, well before Bernie Madoff confessed to his crimes. She also watched over our son and daughter, Orlando and Vivienne, while I stole away for many hours to work on the book over the weekends.

I would like to thank my dad and brother Tom for their constant love and support over the years. I owe each of my cousins, Christa, Alex, and Alicia, and aunts and uncle, Arden, Priscilla, and Tim, thanks for their constant support and good cheer.

A number of families other than my own have given me great encouragement over the years, including the Nash, Jenkins, and Caplan clans. Thank you. Thanks to the guys at the Dublin House, who listened to stories of financial shenanigans and screw-ups for the last decade.

To the finest reporting buddies a guy could have: Jeff Nash, Matt Quinn, Andrew Osterland, Damian Fowler, and Mark Bruno. I owe each of you my gratitude, and a few rounds, too.

To colleagues at Crain Communications Inc. and InvestmentNews , particularly my editor, Jim Pavia, and publisher, Suzanne Siracuse, I owe deep thanks. Jim and Suzanne supported my work on this project 100 percent, and a reporter facing deadlines each day cant ask more than that.

Tom and I would like to thank, once again, everyone we interviewed for the book and was so generous with their time: Professor Larry Sullivan, Tom Barden, Jake Zamansky, Amber Eichner, David K., Larry Papike, Terry Lister, Carrie Wisniewski, Jim Rothenberg, John Moscow, Paul Comstock, Dr. Robert Cialdini, Thomas Willcuts, Jakie Sandefer, and Mal Makin. Thanks to Chistopher J. Carroll for his editorial guidance. Toms staff at Ajamie LLP, especially Debbie Molloy, gave immeasurable help and assistance.

Tom and I had the good fortune to find our agent, Cynthia Manson, who was immediately excited about the project. She then placed it in front of Herman Graf, a peerless editor at Skyhorse Publishing. Thank you both for your energy, effort, and patience with the project.

Finally, I would like to thank my friend and coauthor, Tom Ajamie. This book was a true collaboration, and working with Tom and chronicling his outrageous stories about the investment business is a true highlight of my career. Tom, what are we going to write about next?

A re we a nation filled with Ponzi schemers, rip-off artists, and get-rich-quick dreamers? Of course we are. There are many in our country who want to make easy money; they dream of fast riches, a mansion on the beach, and laying in the sun. They want to do it with your money.

Financial serial killers are dangerous for two reasons. First, they epitomize the shallowness of the get-rich-quick schemes. Like any criminal, they dont want to work for money but desire the trappings of success. Second, and more importantly to you, the financial serial killer will hone in on your dreams of wealth and financial security for your family, exploit them, and destroy them.

The current economic environment is fertile ground for financial serial killers. Not only are we a nation of dreamers, more of us are desperate to hang on to what we have. Are the poor and the middle class being squeezed? Of course they are. Middle-class income is stagnant. Unemployment has hit record highs. Meanwhile, the costs of a college education and health care are out of control. Financial serial killers promise to relieve us of our financial desperation. Instead, of course, they make it much, much worse.

Its obvious that investors need greater protection. Remember, we live in an age when the number of people receiving a guaranteed pension from an employer is dwindling. Everyone is left to fend for themselves financially, even as we all live longer.

What does this all mean? First and foremost, you must attempt to guard your financial safety. Your financial adviser or stockbroker has to tell you how hes working for you. If he cant, you should seriously reconsider the relationship.

The zeal of Wall Street lobbyists to stop efforts by Congress to shape meaningful financial reforms knows no bounds. Wall Street and the rest of the financial services industry has incredible wealth at its disposal, and therefore has incredible muscle.

A recent article from Bloomberg BusinessWeek showed the size of that muscle.

Congress is attempting to push the securities industry and its 634,000 salespeople to work as fiduciaries. Wall Street, of course, hates the idea, because it would mean their brokers would be held to a much higher level of accountability then they are now. That could bog down sales and lead to higher costs defending against investor lawsuits.

Many brokers already adhere to a fiduciary standard, but its their choice to do so. The mind-set of the typical broker, however, is that of a salesperson. Selling products and acting as a fiduciary do not go hand in hand. Lobbying by insurers and banks including Morgan Stanley may result in the elimination of a proposed new standard that would make retail brokers more accountable to clients, the article said.

Of course, consumers want more protection from Congress, not the same old thing.

Retail investors have suffered incredible losses in the recent crisis, Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America, told BusinessWeek . This provision would at least help protect investors against some of the toxic investments they were peddled by their financial advisers.

There will always be crime in society. Muggings on the street, thefts, and murders. Thats why we have police and laws. There will always be financial crime and scams. Thats why we have financial regulators and laws, to stop those types of financial crimes.

Our police and our regulators can fail us. They cant catch all the criminals, so we need to look out for ourselves, too. There is no excuse for financial fraud. Once you understand the mind of the financial serial killer you will be better equipped to take steps to protect yourself, your family, and your friends from the pernicious attacks being mounted everyday by con men and scam artists who are intent on breaking the law and stealing our hard-earned savings.

Wall Street is always developing new financial products to sell you. The ability of these guys to develop new products moves at a quick pace. It is a challenge for the regulators, like the SEC, to keep up with these new products, to understand them, and to regulate them. We would estimate that it takes the regulators at least three or four years (and in many cases longer) to catch up to Wall Street in understanding products that they are selling to investors.

Wall Street and human nature are inexorably linked. Jesse Livermore was a famous early twentieth-century trader and speculator who was immortalized in the 1923 book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre. Many consider Livermore one of the greatest traders and speculators who ever lived. He spent his life on Wall Street, and this is how he summed it all up: