"Wall Street firms may have led their own brokers to believe auction-rate securities were safer than they really were, by labeling them as cash investments and failing to warn brokers of their risks, according to customer records and interviews....
Auction-rate securities enabled nonprofits, municipalities, and closed-end investment funds to borrow money at low interest rates. But last year's subprime mortgage crisis spurred panic in other debt markets, and by February, the auction-rate market had no buyers, only sellers.
The people stuck in these investments include retirees in their 80s and 90s, families who were counting on the funds to pay for college.... All share a similar outrage: As ultracautious investors, why were they suddenly being offered a product that could lock up their cash indefinitely?"
So Wall Street could hold it for ... ever?
Or STEAL IT?
To read the details of how Wall Street swindled them, go here.
