NASD - Press Room - News Release - 3/15/06
Another nail in the coffin on why you cannot trust brokerage firms - they will always find a way to separate you from your money and work in their own best interest. Merrill was fined a measly $5 million for improperly selling and servicing clients who had less than $100,000 in assets. These "undesirables" clients where switched to a Call Center program in order to be "serviced better." I was at Merrill when this initially started and knew that this would be a joke - I turned out to be right. Merrill serviced these people like Bonnie and Clyde serviced banks. Those who could least afford the bad advice where given bad advice and sold products that were in Merrill's interest. Of course the most surprising thing is that someone is surprised.
ScottyD