cover image Investor Beware!: How to Protect Your Money from Wall Street's Dirty Tricks

Investor Beware!: How to Protect Your Money from Wall Street's Dirty Tricks

John Lawrence Allen. John Wiley & Sons, $19.95 (281pp) ISBN 978-0-471-58970-9

``Call them what they are--tricks, sleight-of-hand, devices to maneuver and defraud,'' writes stockbroker-turned-lawyer Allen in this detailed and chilling analysis of deceptive dealings in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, limited partnerships, etc., whereby brokers ``churn'' customers' accounts for maximum commissions. Case histories here chronicle the near-total loss of retirement funds, inheritances or life savings through an investor's failure to hold a broker accountable for such practices as breaking up a 1000-share transaction into 100-share lots with a commission collected on each. Allen warns of early signs of trouble, outlines a do-it-yourself trading program for individuals and describes a regulatory arbitration program--complex and difficult--and other avenues of recovery for clients victimized by crooked brokers. Fortune Book Club alternate; author tour. (June)