License to Steal : The Secret World of Wall Street and the Systematic Plundering of the American Investor

By Timothy Harper and Anonymous

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887309925
• ISBN13: 9780887309922
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Harper Business
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Too True

Reading this book was like taking a step back in time. I worked as a broker right out of college for a company that sold microcap stocks and is since defunct. I can say without a doubt that everything in this book is the absolute truth. From the hidden commissions to the trips to Atlantic City it is all true. Recently I was surfing the NASD regulatory website and found a lot of my old managers had been listed, fined and expunged from the NASD for life for the things that they did. From lying, to churning accounts, to buying stocks without authorization. Next time your phone rings and someone is pitching a stock to you beware. The only person that will make money is the person making the call. This was a fascinating real life account. If you want to be financially secure get a good financial planner and get rich the slow way. Compound interest over time.

Too true!

As a former floor trader (Pacific Coast Stock Exchange) and OTC trader (many years ago), I know that the sort of things written about in this book are true. Shlock brokerage houses across the nation, Florida in particular, are still filching and bleeding their clients without any conscience whatsoever. The only way to be safe today is online investing with realtime service. Even the "finest" names on the street are guilty as hell.I loved this book!

No wonder brokers don't like it

No wonder the reviewers who are brokers didn't like this book. True, the bad guys in the book are only a small percentage of the business, but the book also tells a lot about the basic conflict of interest between all brokers and clients. Like the bit about hidden commissions. I'd never known about that, but now it makes sense. My broker, back when I had a broker, never told me about that. They just want to make money for themselves. If they make money for you, fine, but they look out for No. 1.

Open Your Eyes

This book is fantastic. Although I thought my broker was above Wall Street this book clearly points out that the most important person to your broker is your broker! Highly recomended!

You've Been Warned!

Reading this book was captavating, especially since I am heavily in the market. Several of my friends have used brokers over the past five years, and without exception it was a negative (in hindsight) experience. This book shows why. Their stories struck me deeply, and I always warned others of the dangers of using these financial middle men. If you have a broker or are thinking of getting one read this book first! PLEASE! Very entertaining reading too. You won't want to put it down and can get through it in 2-3 days easy.