Synopses & Reviews
Stockbroker to young trainee: "Remember, when clients send in that money, it's not theirs anymore. It's ours...We're never giving it back to them."
Welcome to Wall Street. The longest bull market in history has driven more people to invest in stocks than ever before--and has given rise to unprecedented levels of greed within the brokerage industry that "serves" those investors.
In License to Steal, Timothy Harper and his Anonymous coauthor have succeeded in piercing the financial industry's code of silence. In a gripping and fast-paced narrative, they show readers how successful brokers on the "Street Without Shame" peddle worthless stocks, take questionable companies public, manipulate share prices, generate bogus commissions, and raid clients' accounts for their own use.
Anonymous and Harper tell a wild, raucous, true story of outrageous acts committed by a handful of rogue brokers--as well as the off-hand, everyday deceptions that are routine in the securities business--and the high life as it is lived by the young and rich in the canyons of Wall Street.
The book recounts the rise of a young, successful stockbroker, first as a smart, eager operator willing to do whatever it takes to make it. Always keeping just within the law, he watches his colleagues in the brokerage business cross over daily into unscrupulous conduct, lining their own pockets at the expense of their clients. Unwilling to join them, unable to endure the pressure of their corrupting influence, he eventually quits Wall Street.
A mesmerizing story of personal redemption, License to Steal is also a searing indictment of a corrupt and brutalizing system and a warning to the millions of American investors who trust and rely on stockbrokers for guidance on their own investments.
Synopsis
This account of Wall Street in the '90s offers a shocking tale of swindles, broken faith, cheated clients, drugs, gambling, and a culture whose bottom line is personal profit--not the needs of its clients.
About the Author
anonymous —
1. not named or identified
2. of unknown authorship or origin Anonymous has been a Wall Street senior vice president and broker. His career has taken him to numerous brokerage firms both large and small.
Timothy Harper, a journalist and a lawyer is a member of the adjunct faculty at Columbia University. His stories on international business appear in newspapers and magazines around the world. He is the author of eight other books, including, most recently, Moscow Madness.
Table of Contents
ch. 1.Thursday night and Friday morning --ch. 2.Conflict of interest --ch. 3.Born broker --ch. 4."Hello, I can make you rich..." --ch. 5.If a woman answers, hang up --ch. 6.Bald shadow --ch. 7.Hidden commissions --ch. 8.It's our money now --ch. 9.Tony Galoshes --ch. 10.Bond play --ch. 11.On the margin --ch. 12.On the market --ch. 13.First blood --ch. 14.Smalltech --ch. 15.50 percent broker --ch. 16.New issue whores --ch. 17.Alfred's deal --ch. 18.Mr. Vice President --ch. 19.Kid --ch. 20.Wary buyers --ch. 21.Dirty dozen --ch. 22.Crossing, churning, parking --ch. 23.Prep school --ch. 24.Graduation --ch. 25.Boutique firm --ch. 26.Last deal.