Broker in Brooklyn Defrauds Customers Out of Millions

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has charged a Greenpoint, Brooklyn brokerage firm with defrauding three customers out of more than $4 million, the Brooklyn Eagle reports.

The firm, TWS Financial, is headed by Polish-born Roman Sledziejowski and catered to the Polish immigrant community in Brooklyn.

Sledziejowski’s attorney told the Eagle that the charges have "only been made within FINRA, not within the legal system."

TWS's website says, "All client funds are deposited with top-rated and secure financial institutions, client funds are deposited with JP Morgan Chase Bank . . ."

Only maybe they weren't.

More here.

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Who Won the Third and Final Presidential Debate?

Did Romney scare voters with Iran and China? Did he convince voters our country's global influence is receding?

Did President Obama convince voters their money should go to schools and roads instead of Afghanistan? Did he mention enough examples of Romney changing his positions on important issues?

Who won the third and final Presidential debate?

Vote for the winner in the poll at the top of the column on the right. And then support the candidate of your choice with your vote in the real election.

(Cell phone users: use web browser version of the website, not mobile.)

McBrooklyn voters gave a slight edge to Mitt Romney in the second Presidential debate poll. (50% vs 46%, with 4% undecided.)

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Stealing Ghost Bikes; Betty White's Pranksters; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Someone might be stealing and selling ghost bike memorials. NY Magazine 

- Brooklyn Heights Cinema presents a short version of Heather Quinlan’s film-in-progress, If These Knishes Could Talk: The Story of the New York Accent. Brooklyn Eagle

- Betty White's team of senior pranksters have been spotted in Park Slope. Gothamist 

- What to do in Brooklyn on Valentine's Day. About.com

- "Exceptionally vicious" Bonanno captain gets 10 year, 7 already served. He'll be out in 3, and then will enter the witness-protection program. NY Post

- Brooklyn graffiti says Google is the new Big Brother. amNY

- MF Global's missing $1.2 billion probably just "vaporized." NY Magazine

- A Republican lawmaker withdrew his bill to require drug testing welfare applicants after a Democrat amended it to require drug testing for lawmakers. Huff Post

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City Council Agrees with OWS: Banks Should Turn Over Foreclosed Properties

Following the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in East New York Wednesday, the City Council called for big banks to turn over vacant foreclosed properties to nonprofit groups involved in affordable housing.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, council members, and representatives from VOCANY and NY Communities for Change were "responding to the growing demand by the 99 percent to hold the banks responsible for the damage that foreclosures cause to neighborhoods in the city."

Occupy Wall Street and elected officials chose East New York because that community has a foreclosure rate five times the citywide rate.

More here.

Photo by MK Metz

- Occupy Wall Street's Day of Mass Action
- Occupy Wall Street's 99% March Over Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn Heights
- Occupy Wall Street Protesters Arrested Inside Brooklyn Supreme Court
- OWS Protesters Occupy Cadman Plaza Park and Get Arrested On Brooklyn Bridge
- Livestream OWS March Oct. 5
- More here
- More here.

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The One Building In Brooklyn That Lost $80,000 in Value Over Six Years, and More Brooklyn Briefs

- The state won't tell Daniel Goldstein or The Brooklyn Paper how it determined that the Atlantic Yards holdout's apartment is worth $80,000 less than he paid for it six years ago. (The Mafia probably has a word for it, though.)

- Mayor Bloomberg and the NYC DDC announced Tuesday that they are suing Comptroller William C. Thompson to try to force him to approve a contract in connection with the proposed renovation and expansion of the Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue. Brooklyn Eagle

- Brokelyn has put together a roundup of the first annual NYC Bloggers Do the Holidays Roundup, including a month's worth of free or cheap holiday-ish things to do.

- Grab your checkbook: Bond-rating agency Moody's has given a barely investment-grade rating to the bonds for the Atlantic Yards arena. The Empire State Development Corp. could make its initial bond offering as soon as today. No Land Grab (summary from other sites)

- A deer swam from New Jersey to Governors Island. Really. New York Magazine

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The Brooklyn Portfolio Takes Shape

Based on reader recommendations, we've added several companies to out investment vehicle, The Brooklyn Portfolio. As we explained in our original post, The Brooklyn Portfolio includes shares in companies that have a strong Brooklyn presence, started in Brooklyn or have some other significant connection to Brooklyn. We started yesterday with:

- Pfizer (PFE)
- Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (DCOM)
- National Grid (NGG)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY)
- Corning Incorporated (GLW)
- Nathan's Famous (NATH)

New additions based on reader suggestions:

- Novartis (NVS), which makes health care products including pharmaceuticals (they took over Brooklyn's Ex-Lax), was selling for $52.20 yesterday, with a PE=15.76 and a yield of 3.28*.

- Brooklyn Federal Savings Bank (BFSB), a bank headquartered in Brooklyn. They're down about 10% year to date, have a PE= 28.39, and yield 3.16%. It was selling for $12.64 yesterday.

So here we have our Brooklyn Portfolio, subject to change depending on which way the wind blows. Three of the eight stocks are in the health/pharma area, and two are banks. Then we have an energy company, an industrial/tech company, and a restaurant.

In a couple of days we'll start producing charts and all kinds of lists of official looking numbers!

A reader also mentioned Forest City Enterprises (FCA.A), parent compant to our own F.C. (Bruce) Ratner. We don't feel confident yet about commercial real estate, and Forest City seems to have a little cash flow issue. So we'll wait on this one.

UPDATE: The Brooklyn Portfolio is funded!

- The Brooklyn Portfolio: Investing in Brooklyn (previous post)

*Yields as reported by Google Finance. May vary.

Photo by Don Hankins, Creative Commons license

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23905174@N00/ / CC BY 2.0

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