A new entrant in the cold call contest – Jack Fitzpatrick from Blackbook Capital

I received a call today from Jack Fitzpatrick from Blackbook Securities. Jack told me that he was following up on a conversation we had on September 30 about a particular company. This was a baldfaced lie. He said the company was in “cloud computing.” Who knows. Who cares?

I didn’t want to spend a lot of time with Jack, but I did tell him that I would add him to the list of cold callers on my blog. I told him that I am a securities lawyer and that I’ve been doing it for 25 years. I’m not sure if he was impressed, stunned or scared. I doubt scared.

I suppose I shouldn’t blame Jack for lying to me. After all, he got his start at John Thomas securities (out of business). He then spent the next two and a half years at Charles Vista LLC. This second employer eventually had its license terminated for failing to pay FINRA arbitration fees, but its problems were bigger than that. Charles Vista had been accused by the SEC of lying to customers about a debenture deal for a start-up waste management company. The accused liar? The firm’s investment banker. This information is all available at the FINRA BrokerCheck website here.

Just one web search, Jack, would have revealed that I was the wrong person to call with your line of BS. But you didn’t do your homework. I was just a name on a list to you. Some poor soul who doesn’t know anything about securities. Perhaps your background of working at Shoprite and Perkins Pancake House did not prepare you for dealing with investors who aren’t just sheep waiting to be sheared. But you did accomplish something today — you have earned an entry in the blog. So, congratulations to you.

That’s the view of one lawyer from Jupiter, Palm Beach County, Florida. I’m Marc Dobin.