Advocis is a national professional association that prepares, promotes and protects financial advisors in the public interest. We do this by providing a professional platform including career support, designations, best practices direction, education, timely information and professional liability insurance. This strengthens the relationship of trust and respect between financial advisors and their clients, the public, and government. The Association’s website is . http://www.advocis.ca.


(advocate comments.......I found this posted recently and thought it deserved a few comments for honesty and clarity:

1. "Advocis is a national professional association" Actually Advocis is "attempting' to appear as a professional association, but is actually a group of life insurance salespeople who are trying to alter their image from "life insurance salespeople" to something other, something with the word "advisor" in it and something to make the public trust them more. A name change more than a substance change. Some might call it marketing spin. Some might even call it misrepresentation.

2. "promotes and protects financial advisors" This would be correct.

3. "in the public interest" This would generally be bull.

4. "strengthens the relationship of trust and respect between financial advisors and their clients, the public, and government" Again, marketing and profits would suggest that getting the public and others to "trust" life insurance sellers, so they can sell more is correct. As far as actually delivering on the honest disclosure and professional standards required to earn this trust, that is quite debatable. The name change is something akin to putting lipstick on the pig, and your financial wellbeing would be best protected by not assuming there is anything behind it other than sales motivation.

(As with all other "self proclaimed" organizations, or those who work their way into self regulation positions, when push comes to shove and they are taken to the supreme court, the customer will learn the hard way that these organizations work 100% for their salespeople members and they "owe no duty of care for the public")

Buyer beware bigtime.

The image on the top is a cover for the Advocis magazine, while the image below is the page with the cover exposed by folding back a half flap to reveal the true motivations, SALES.

Biggest Defrauder of the Federal Government

This media release took me by surprise and I thought you might like to see it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2010
1:16 PM

CONTACT: Public Citizen
Phone: 202-588-1000

Pharmaceutical Industry Is Biggest Defrauder of the Federal Government Under the False Claims Act, New Public Citizen Study Finds
Civil, Criminal Settlements Have Increased Dramatically; Off-Label Promotion Largely Responsible
WASHINGTON - December 16 - The drug industry has now become the biggest defrauder of the federal government, as determined by payments it has made for violations of the False Claims Act (FCA), surpassing the defense industry, which had long been the leader, according to a new Public Citizen study released today.

The study found that pharmaceutical cases accounted for at least 25 percent of all federal FCA payouts over the past decade, compared with 11 percent by the defense industry.

The fraud results were a key finding from a Public Citizen analysis of all major pharmaceutical company civil and criminal settlements on the state and federal levels since 1991 and found that the frequency with which the pharmaceutical industry has allegedly violated federal and state laws has increased at an alarming rate. Of the 165 pharmaceutical industry settlements comprising $19.8 billion in penalties during the past 20 years, 73 percent of the settlements (121) and 75 percent of the dollar amount ($14.8 billion) have occurred during the past five years.

Many of the infractions, and the single largest category of financial penalties, stemmed from the practice of off-label promotion of pharmaceuticals - the illegal promotion of a drug for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Off-label promotion can be prosecuted as a criminal offense because of the potential for serious adverse health consequences to patients from such promotional activities. Another major category of federal financial penalties was purposely overcharging for drugs under various federal programs, which constitutes a violation of the FCA.

On the state level, the largest category of financial penalties has come from companies deliberately overcharging state health programs, such as Medicaid. Public Citizen's study found this to be the most common category of violation among state settlements.

The increase in payments for fraud is likely attributable to drug companies engaging in more wrongdoing and better enforcement at the state and federal level, said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen.

"Desperate to maintain their high margin of profit in the face of a dwindling number of important new drugs, these figures show that the industry has engaged in such activities as dangerous, illegal promotion for unapproved uses of drugs and deliberately overcharging vital government health programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid," said Wolfe. Wolfe compiled and analyzed the data with physicians from the Johns Hopkins General Preventive Medicine program, Drs. Sammy Almashat and Charles Preston, as well as Columbia University public health student Timothy Waterman, all of whom worked at Public Citizen.

Public Citizen's study also found that more than one-half of the industry's fines were paid by just a few companies - GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Schering-Plough. These four companies accounted for more than half of all financial penalties over the past two decades, paying $10.5 billion in fines collectively. These pharmaceutical companies were among the largest in the world. The two largest criminal penalties ever assessed by the U.S. government against any companies were against Lilly ($515 million) and Pfizer ($1.2 billion), both in 2009.

To conduct the study, Public Citizen created a database of information about pharmaceutical companies' civil and criminal settlements, including information about the type of alleged violation and the amount of money paid in settlements. This study is the first to attempt to document and analyze all major pharmaceutical company settlements with both federal and state governments, the authors said.

Nationally, former pharmaceutical company employees and other whistleblowers have been instrumental in bringing to light the most egregious violations; they have initiated the largest number of federal settlements in the past decade. The number of federal settlements arising from whistleblower cases has more than doubled over the past five years, yielding total payouts more than two and a half times higher than in the previous 15 years combined.

Needed remedies include imposing steeper financial penalties and criminally prosecuting company leadership, including jail sentences, if merited.

"The danger to public safety and loss of state and federal dollars that comes with these violations require a more robust response," Wolfe said.

To read the full report, visit http://www.citizen.org/hrg1924.
###
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts.

"Yes" Men are a Dime a Dozen

I just sat in what one person in the audience called an "infomercial" for the Alberta Law Society. Put on by a very experienced, knowledgable and ethical member of the society, but an infomercial none the less.

His talk repeated the words "in the public interest" enough times to almost make one believe it was intended to make us believe that to be so. It also pointed out to us how "no one is above the law", a point which was scoffed at around our small table of eight very ordinary people.

It came across as a self serving cheerleading session intended to build public support for the idea of lawyers policing lawyers. Or self regulation. I am not an expert on the law society but I am an expert on self regulation and it usually turns out to be a great deal for the industry seeking to police themselves, and a less great deal for the "public interest". That is my own experience. I think of the young finance industry whistleblower who took his own life after learning the hard way that some people "are" more above the law than others. (see www.breachoftrust.ca video chapter six ) He found out the hard way that the law society is actually there more to protect lawyers interests than the public interest. At least that is what I found out when I complained about the lawyer who misled a calgary judge and had him sign off a private search warrant (Anton Piller order) that took away the young man's rights to even talk to police. I am sure the law society did not want that to get out when they dismissed the complaint.

Others at my table had similar feelings, one 70ish lady gave me her favorite quote about the law, which was this, "The law can be used to keep justice away".

Another pointed out the obvious which was that "of course some people are above the law". The speaker had no response to this other than to say his system is not perfect but that it had to strive for perfect ideals.

Then he should have not shown up to mislead us with his infomercial. He could instead of been an honest, candid speaker of the problems, and the initiatives they undertake to try to solve those problems. Instead he appeared as a simple 'talking Yes man" for the industry, rather than attempting to create sound, helpful discourse.

The world already has enough "yes" men. They are the most common human on the planet. When will we see an industry participant who actually questions his industry, questions poor practices, solves self serving issues?

When will we be able to listen to a speaker who has something to say, beyond how great they are, how great their profession is?

What a waste. Still. Nice guy. He just does not even know that he has assigned himself a role, an "actor" if you will, in a stage show where his is more on the side of the problem, instead of being on the side of solution.

below is a link to a 15 year old child who is doing a far better job for society:

http://dailybail.com/home/and-a-child-shall-lead-them.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDailyBail+%28The+Daily+Bail%29

middle class angst

While we are talking about financial abuse, I have just started to notice a long term trend of late.
It is only my own observation and is extremely unscientific, but it strikes me as interesting info to file away in the old noggin.
It goes like this:

When my dad was raising his family, the times allowed a single spouse to support an average middle class life. When I was raising a family, it seemed necessary for both spouses to work in order to support the average middle class life. Looking at my children now grown and on their own, it appears as if some may need to hold more than one job to support their middle class dream.

How far will it go before the middle class is eliminated, or simply enslaved economically to those at the top of the food chain?

I could be very wrong, but I am starting to suspect that government, taxation, financial schemers, bankers and such, are those people who are riding in the wagon. The middle class is pulling the wagon. Those in the wagon, keep taking more and more from those pulling the wagon, seeking greater and greater riches and ease. We keep paying for their leisure.

It is just my impression. I could be wrong. But I also see others writing things on blogs etc, like "never before in history have so few people, taken so much, from so many", referring to recent economic pillage we have undergone to make wall street and bay street richer. To think that this pillage has been helped by financial regulators or people who pose as regulators, and ultimately by politicians who back the regulators. Sad.

I hope the Industry of Accountability will develop far enough and strong enough to start holding some of these crooked folk to account, before it is too late.

My effort at the Industry of Accountability is found at www.albertafraud.com
check it out to see how billions get stolen each and every year by "trusted criminals" who do not have to follow the same rules as you and I. Join my facebook group and lets hold a few of them to account. Even if just "name and shame".

Getting away with financial murder, financial rape and other crimes against the public

What a set of headlines to find today. I just got back from a 1000 km journey to Grande Prairie and back, and found my newspapers stacked up for me to read.

From Nov 21, 2010 Lethbridge Herald cover story came this headline "PM TARGETS AFGAN CORRUPTION"
I had to take a few breaths and slow myself down from getting upset and angry at the thought of our prime minister working to prevent corruption in a foreign land, while I spend my time here in Canada trying to make the public aware of the extent of corruption at home. It seems bizarre, dishonest and misleading, but I am slowly learning that the job of our leaders is to lie to us and to distract us from the major issues. Like a pickpocket who has an accomplice "bump" or distract you so another can pick your pocket, I am starting to feel as if that is the role of our government.

Then , further into my reading a photo of a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk in downtown Toronto, in front of the major bank towers. I found the photo striking since I made a video journey film titled BREACH OF TRUST, The Unique Violence of White Collar Crime. One of the premises of the film is that predators (mostly financiers) take advantage of those lower than them on the economic or political food chain, thereby causing financial violence which knows no end upon those poor victims. They have zero recourse against their abusers (somewhat like an eight year old child verses the Catholic church circa 1960) and the net result is a lifetime of self sabotaging behaviours. I will try to obtain the image and post it.

Then as I went shopping at my local supermarket, speaking to the meat counter guy about a certain cut of meat, I saw the posters and photos near the back about "meat thieves". Never seen or heard that term before, but here is was, big as life. Photos of surveillance camera shots showing people who were known meat thieves. All I can say here is pure profanity. The frustration of seeing our system so able to "see" crime at the bottom of the food chain, and "see no evil" for those at the top of the economic and political food chain. Pure profanity. Pure Profanity. (even as far as me saying "George W Bush" which to me is like saying the fuck word)

I will end with this: "I want to live in a country where predators and abusers (from any station in life) can be held to account for the damage they do to other humans, to the economy, or to the planet". Today I do NOT live in such a country. I live in a so called free country where politicians and bankers and a few others (corporations, resource companies, drug companies) from the highest echelons of society can nearly get away with any abuse they happen to specialize in. They do not have to follow the same rules as you and I, and the laws of the land are not strong enough to reach upwards against gravity high enough to reach their stations in life. George W. Bush, George W. Bush, George W. Bush

Billions Stolen annually by people who don't need to follow rules or laws

The web site linked here lists just one example of persons who are exempt from following rules and laws designed to protect consumers.

Imagine a special class of people who can get permission to violate the law. To do things that are ordinarily illegal. Now imagine that they can do this to your investment advice and products, to taint the advice and the products that they sell you.

Now imagine that this happens about 500 times a year in every province in Canada.

Now imagine that they get to do this in secret, so you may never find out who they are and how they violate you financially.

Welcome to the Canadian predatory financial system, and 13 Canadian Securities Commissions.

Get busy, get a class action lawyer, and get all of your money back if you have lost due to negligence, gross negligence of conscious wrongdoing of a Canadian regulator.

Where do you invest?

With the economy turned bad, CEO's turned bad in many cases, regulators turned corrupt or morally blind in far too many cases, banks turned from financial servants to financial predators, and so on...........what is an investor supposed to do to protect their future. Where do you invest safely?

One expert answered this to me by saying "Invest in what you know and are familiar with larry. Whether that is land, business inventory, things where you have some expertise etc. This expert went on to explain how the best and brightest company in the land can be brought down today with "financial weapons of mass distruction" (quote by Warren Buffet) like credit default swaps, and a host of other derivative type instruments that wall street and bay street alchemists use to try and generate new and larger fees for themselves. Whatever stock you invest in can nowadays be subject to failure due to the creative use of these instruments.

The other risk that we have begun to see far too much of is the internal raping of the company by the very management hired to run the place for shareholders. Think Nortel, think Conrad Black type of managers, as well as the many names in the US.
So while stocks are historically considered one of the safest long term investments (for buy and hold people like Warren Buffet, who stick with quality), there is a new move afoot that brings white collar crime and derivative speculation right into that security type.

Which brings me to one of the most important suggestions I can give: Invest in regions where securities laws are enforced and where independent police investigations are allowed to proceed into financial crime. The largest pension fund in Canada used to be run by Claude Lemorouix, and his quote in the National Post a few years back suggested that he would not buy any Canadian company unless it was listed on a US exchange, since buying it there placed US authorities in a position to prosecute crimes by CEO's etc.

In Canada, all financial markets and securities are "self regulating" which means we are trusting our clever, cunning financiers to police themselves. While they have set up more than one hundred "protective" organizations and agencies, there is so far not one single, recognized agency in Canada that is not getting it's salary (and it's people) from the investment industry. What that means is that if you have a compliant against a large Canadian player like a bank for example, you are screwed, to use a technical term. If you have complaint against a small player, sometimes the self regulators will take that organization down to help their larger supporters (not to help you, the abused investor) but the end result is that the self regulators will keep your money if any is recovered. I shit you not, that is how they operate. Research it yourself. These people are not working for the benefit of the public interest.

So buyer beware with even the best stocks in Canada, from the top dealers in the land.

Speaking of dealers, do they owe you a duty to place your interests first and foremost? Their marketing material would suggest yes. Their behavior suggests otherwise. For example:

Over 80% of mutual funds sold by these "reputable dealers" have in the past been sold using the highest cost commission structure possible, despite lower cost choices available. It that trusted professional advice? No.
More recently (2009 I believe) 92% of all funds sold in Canada were sold into something called WRAP accounts, usually funds of other funds, or proprietary funds. (house brands) These cause fees upon fees, or fees kept in house in the case of the house brand, so profits can be up to 26 times greater if they sell you the house fund. Who cares if they perform better, worse, or even, if the company is getting up to 26 times more profit, it is about them and not about you. Otherwise why the 92% of sales capture rate.

Speaking of sales, did you know that your trusted advisor has less training to be licensed that your hairdresser or your plumber? Or that their license with the government was officially listing them as "salesperson" up until sept 29, 2009?

No you did not know this because despite securities Commission laws saying they must tell you this info, they never do and the laws never get enforced. Remember that bit about self regulating?
After Sept 29, 2009, your financial seller is now listed as a "dealing representative", but you can bet they will also never properly disclose this to you. Fraudulent misrepresentation is the simplest description I can apply to what your financial seller does to you in Canada.

So where are we at choosing what to invest in? The banks have turned predatory. The CEO's are corrupt at worst and self serving at best, despite being professionaly paid to behave otherwise. 80% plus of sellers are predatory sellers, trying to fool the public into the belief and the trust that they are professional and their to help. Wrong.
The markets are subject to some financial manipulations by some of the craziest financial products ever invented, ie, credit default swaps allow them to do the equivalent of buying insurance on the neighbors home, then burning the home down to collect the insurance.

Regualtors are on the take and paid 100% by those very same financial wizards.

Politicians (like Ted Morton, Alberta Finance Minister, and twelve others) feel they owe a greater duty of loyalty to their kingdoms., er their securities commissions, thus the politicians seem also to be owned by those with the money, and not serving those they are sworn to serve.

I hate to sound so pessimistic, but that is the way it works........or does not work, depending upon which side of the fence you are on.

I keep the solutions to myself, as well as the types of investments where your money cannot be taken from you by fast talking, self policing shysters in suits. Other than some ranting here and there on the web, and elsewhere, it is too difficult to tell people where to invest unless one is face to face, and fully informed as to what each persons individual situation is. It occurrs to me that this world should employ "financial bodyguards" and I hope to find myself fully employed in that capacity at some point. For now I am quite happy to work like this where I can, and the rest of the time give my experience away freely to governments, legislators, media, public speaking and helping abused investors.

I have a section on my film site titled "private financial investigator", which is something available to those who wish to hire someone with thirty years of hard earned experience, combined with not a single product to sell, nor a single bank or other institution to have to misrepresent to my clients.

Thanks for reading this far along.

CIBC exposed in defrauding elderly clients

From Maisonneuve Magazine, comes this fearless article to illustrate complete failure in Canada to regulate and protect investors. The story speaks to a captured culture of deceit that Canadians should be aware of to protect themselves against predatory financial behaviors.

"The Incredible True Story Of Mr. Markarian"

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BzE_LMPDi9UONzY5NTk3YjktZDlmZi00MWM3LWFlNDMtNTY1NDczZjk4Yzhi&hl=en

I think there will be an entirely new industry created in the next decade or two. I call it the "industry of accountability", and it will be an entire system of specialties created to instill ethical behavior and integrity into a world which today is run on the premise that the man who lies the best wins. Or the man who steals the best wins. Or the man who destroys others the best wins.

Any number of situations, financial, political, business enterprise, all run the best by those who lie, cheat and steal the best. That simply must change. The industry of accountability is my hope for that change.

After our next great depression (which we are now creating) I hope that people in North America will have learned enough about letting foxes run the henhouse. I hope there is a huge backlash against people who choose self interest over the public interest. Yes, I know, we all do that, and there is no stopping it. But where it is done by our political leaders, business leaders, etc, we have the right to enforce breach of trust and negligence laws and put them in jail.

That is the industry of accountability. Instead of employing lawyers and accountants to help crooks to cheat the system, there will be an entire workforce of professionals employed in protecting the public interest, monitoring public servants, and holding them accountable and responsible for their lies and for their damages.

Just like today, we no longer accept and remain quiet about types of abuses. Just like today we question the Catholic church and how they hurt people. I believe that given time, north americans will have had enough of lying cheating stealing and "organized crime" by our trusted leaders. When we start to put these people in jail and take away their money and property, then we will begin down the road to a safer, more prosperous society.

That is my story and I am sticking to it. I am Larry Elford and I work in the industry of accountability. I am a financial investigator, specializing in investment abuses, and my work on behalf of the public interest can be found freely at www.investoradvocates.ca (industry tricks of the trade)

and

www.breachoftrust.ca (investment industry abusing employees and customers)

Alberta Finance Minister (new) Ted Morton, just cannot come any cleaner than his predecesor Iris Evans.

Ed and Ted’s Adventures

Recent news revealed a world renowned institution caught “protecting itself”, instead of “protecting its victims”. I see identical hubris with our premier and finance minister.

Over one billion dollars of Albertan’s money is missing in toxic investments. Two western Canadians are dead by suicide. You would think that Ted and Ed would be honest with the public, but no. They act similar to how my two year old nephew does when he has a bathroom “accident”. First try to hide it. Then deny it. Then perhaps put on an angry face of indignation. This forgiveable behavior for a two year old, but for Ted and Ed? It seems evident of persons who should not be in leadership nor trusted with money.

For those who are out of the loop, this investment paper turned out to be junk that was sold by investment salesmen, and the assets were then pledged to foreign banks (Deutsche bank in our case), in a complicated insurance process called a credit default swap. Not many people know or care what a credit default swap is, but imagine if you and your friends could buy insurance on your neighbors home. Then imagine if someone were to burn that home so that you and your friends could collect the insurance money. Apply that pathology to finance and you know the basics and the dangers of credit default swaps. They can be financial weapons of mass destruction.

$32 million of city tax revenues were lost in these by our city treasurer. Another billion or so from other Albertan’s.

Ed and Ted’s excellent financial regulators gave investment firms permission to sell this toxic junk in Alberta. It granted them permission to violate Alberta Securities Laws to do so. It has given several thousand such permissions without a single notice to the public. And neither Ed nor Ted is willing to tell us why. After all it is only billions of your money. Ted has not lost a nickel so why should he care? Ted now informs me that he will not answer this question of “why”. Nor will he tell why secret deals like this are done without any public notice. An accident Ted? Hiding something from the public?

Contact the writer at lelford@shaw.ca if you would like to become part of the solution.

Larry Elford