If the allegations were true, it would show, once again, how little respect some industry registrants have for the owner of capital. Now some people will say that, in any event, four bad apples shouldn't be held against an industry that employs well over a million people. I disagree on the grounds that this kind of miscreant behavior is repeated in the news every year, every month and, in fact, every week."

I'd like to point you to one person's detailed review of many of these cases. Here is the NYSE list, and then the NASD list, just for the year 2005 to date. Please flip through the lists. If you have the time, maybe you would also care to go back to 2004, and 2003. The problems are endless.

The individual who provides this info and commentary is Bill Singer, publisher or RRBDLAW.com (a Wall Street regulatory/legal website) and a blog called Broke and Broker. He is also a partner in the Wall Street New York law firm of Gusrae, Kaplan, Bruno & Nusbaum PLLC, mostly dealing with securities-industry matters.

I happen to believe, based on my industry experience, that most people who are registered are basically honest. But there is a problem in that OPM is involved, and too often it's a case of the registrant acting for self-interests. Many times those actions cross the line. And only a few of those episodes are caught and successfully prosecuted, and the lists you read cover only some of those.

Where your money is involved " particularly where no face-to-face relationship exists " it always pays to be on guard. That's all I'm saying; nothing more.