(The Internet Archives WayBack Machine had a cache of its site, fortunately.) To start, the phone number is now disconnected and the address given, 22 West Washington Street in Chicago, is another virtual office. A woman answering the phone for the office owner told the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation that the Independent Financial Regulatory Authority had been gone since July if not before that, and had left no forwarding information.In a series of email exchanges, New York Stock Options executive David Goldberg argued that not having a U.S. regulator--when operating on U.S. soil or planning to soliciting U.S.-citizens--is not an issue since New York Stock Options is registered in Belize and doesnt have any U.S. clients yet. Moreover, he insisted that New York Stock Options complies with all regulators in the jurisdictions it does operate in. He was scornful of a reporters query about regulators in North America and Europe having no record of his company.You obviously think America, Canada or Europe are the only place on earth firms are regulated, said Goldberg. He then ended the conversation by accusing the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation of being a front for BlackRock, the giant asset management firm. He did not elaborate on this theory and an email from Isaac Rothschild noted that the firm would not be commenting further.Goldbergs reference to New York Stock Options registration in Belize might not instill much confidence in its governance. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Offshore Leaks database, New York Stock Options address in Belize is a mail drop used by several other offshore entities to shield assets and business activity.During its brief, likely imaginary lifespan, the Independent Financial Regulatory Authority certainly tried an entirely different approach to guarding customer assets than its peers at the SEC or FINRA, and planned a 100,000 per plate IFRA Awards Dinner gala to celebrate the companies it did not regulate at the Chicago Waldorf Astoria. One of the main attractions of the event was the chance to meet multibillionaire and part-owner of New York Stock Options Isaac Rothschild. (A representative of the hotel told the Southern Investigative Research Foundation that she had no record of this event.)Given the above, it is perhaps difficult to be shocked at the news that New York Stock Options is planning to join Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in the ranks of publicly traded brokerages. A preliminary prospectus announcement posted on its website says a sale of six million shares at 25, raising 150 million, would imply a 5.3 billion valuation.With a syndicate of Folayan Financial Holding and Turner Securities LLC as lead joint book running managers, and Thompson LLC, Phillip Davis, Price, Steinberg amp Smith Incorporated, Steven Goldberg amp Co. and Isaac W. Rothschild amp Co. Incorporated there certainly are enough firms in the mix, its just that none of them exist.The Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation went to great lengths to get comment from Obawtaye Folayan and New York Stock Options during this story.Moreover, given the vast incongruities and departures from securities industry norms our reporting uncovered, we firmly communicated our deep concern about the legality of many of its business practices.Getting someone on the phone was fruitless: repeated calls to all of the obtainable numbers for Folayan and his companies (from public and private databases) ended in disconnected phones or voice mailboxes that were invariably full. Other phone numbers we called for New York Stock Options included a Magic Jack account that had been discontinued and a Google Voice mailbox where repeated messages left for Folayan and his colleagues were not returned.A series of email exchanges, referenced above, with New York Stock Options executive David Goldberg resulted in little substantive discussion after initially agreeing to call the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation, he did not follow through. As noted, the email discussion ended when Goldberg accused the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation of colluding with a giant money manager.Editors note: In addition to several minor copy edits to correct spelling and grammar usage, the article was amended to include a comment from John Mylant denying that he is part of an organized stock promotion effort. A disputed December 2011 transaction between Orlando Birbragher and the stock promoter Richard Barsom was mischaracterized and was changed to reflect the claims in a lawsuit.Another fine post, Thank you for exposing the people in our industry that give us all a bad name. One thing you missed though, was that the script from the Max Headroom style video was stolen entirely from Franklin Templeton see here youtube/watchvnxDZjrZ6zst1m27sThis story is complete garbage. What I get from reading this is a company is trying to start up and a quack reporter is trying to derail the company. The company is internationaly registered (new), a holding company in Delaware (new), the nysohedge site clearly says (Website Under Construction) and it is up, the Folayan financial site IS A TEMPLATE Dude There is no Fraud, no illegal activities, nothing, just some guy (Clearly an African of sort) starting a new investment firm.This cries out RACISM. Shame on you Roddy Boyd of Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation. What a RODDY BOYD a RACIST PIGBrian Kalowski: a legitimate startup would not claim to oversee asset worth 4.4 billion while not answering its phones or paying its bills. The story above has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with ferreting out questionable actors in finance. The author of the article, Roddy Boyd, has a distinguished track record of investigating proven financial frauds, including a book on AIG (Fatal Risk).
