Was Merrill Lynch full of bull?
In case you hadn't heard, a scandal is unfolding in which Internet stock analysts at Merrill Lynch are accused of selling their supposedly independent opinions to win business for the brokerage firm. In other words, these people profited--some of them mightily--by misleading the investors who trusted them.
We know about these abuses because New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer recently filed a 37-page document with the New York Supreme Court. After citing an exhaustive series of incriminating e-mails, voice messages, and written documents, Spitzer wrote:
"These communications show analysts privately disparaging companies while publicly recommending their stocks. For example, one analyst made highly disparaging remarks about the management of an Internet company and called the company's stock 'a piece of junk,' yet gave the company, which was a major investment banking client, the firm's highest ranking." [AnchorDesk]
The chickens have come back to roost. With the sting of Enron in everyones mind, we have begun the process of looking for more examples of greed run amok. Sadly there is little challenge to that search.
At the end of the day we can be sure of only one thing...the little guy will get screwed in the process...mj
8:11:46 AM 
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