The fat lady is singing – Jesup & Lamont, Inc. files for bankruptcy.

According to this website, Jesup & Lamont, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. Perhaps this phoenix will rise from the ashes, but I doubt it will do so under current management. A sixth grade lemonade stand might have been run better.

It’s a shame, too. Jesup was a storied name, but so were Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Mercury. But they all suffered from the same problem – bad management and more desirable competitors. And let’s not forget that there are FINRA employees who have broken out the champagne and are doing cartwheels in the hallways. (Although they would never admit it.)

I fell badly for some of the employees, too. (But not their management team.) At least some of their registered representatives have landed with another firm, Anderson Strudwick of Richmond, Virginia. I wish them the best. Maybe they’ll flourish without the burden of working for their former employer.

The interesting question now is, what will happen to all the brokers who were named in arbitrations while Jesup employees. Being a broker formerly employed by a now-defunct brokerage firm is akin to being the last member of Saddam Hussein’s private army, and you didn’t find out that Saddam surrendered. You keep fighting the fight, but you have only your own resources to back you up. We shall see.

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

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