Module 16 2022

02/09/2022

Merrill Lynch

Money Telegraph Tuesday 9 th April 2002 Merrill Lynch to be prosecuted for fraudulent recommendations New York attorney general has accused Merrill Lynch of misleading investors who were told that stocks internally described as "junk" were the best thing since sliced bread. He has produced what are believed to be smoking gun e-mails which show the bank was overly eager to please potential investment banking clients with glowing reports whilst selling private investors down the river.

Money Telegraph Wednesday 22 nd May 2002 Merrill pays US$100m for Analyst Conflict of Interest Merrill Lynch have been fined $100M by the New York State Attorney without admission of liability for recommending shares by application of an "accumulate" rating, which privately they were describing in internal e-mails as a "piece of shit". … when the SEC threatened to go to court with the smoking gun emails Merrill suddenly offered $100M to settle it. [Ratings agencies]have downgraded the firm, citing litigation risks and bad press. Prudential Securities put the cost to the firm of the scandal at £2bn.

The Organisation for Professionals in Regulatory Affairs

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Ford

Pinto Madness

Reported in MoJo September 1977

Internal company documents …show that Ford crash-tested the Pinto … more than 40 times …[but] denied under oath having crash-tested the Pinto

Ford's cost-benefit table is buried in a seven-page company memorandum …

When the Pinto liability suits began, Ford strategy was to go to a jury. Confident it could hide the Pinto crash tests

In February of 1978, a California jury created a nationwide sensation when it awarded the record-breaking sum of $128 million in a lawsuit stemming from a into accident.

Ford was …careless enough to let such an embarrassing calculation slip into public records.

[A] recall came too late to save Ford's reputation. Millions of dollars in lawsuits were filed and won against the automaker, including the largest personal injury judgment ever. And in 1979 …Ford notoriously became the first American corporation ever indicted or prosecuted on criminal homicide charges. Though Ford was acquitted of reckless homicide in March 1980, the Pinto's reputation had plummeted disastrously

The Organisation for Professionals in Regulatory Affairs

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