weatherbill, I had a stock a few years ago, purchased on a recommendation and through a large broker (LM) agent, that did the belly up. It was very quick, after something was found to be amiss. We got the whole "class action suit" treatment; application, updates, documentation needed notices, etc. Jumped through all of the hoops as directed. The case took about a year to settle. Another company bought out the failed company's assets, and that money was put into an escrow account. The stock ceased to exist on the boards. Bills get paid first, then shareholders. The legal firm had nine or ten lawyers working on the class action suit, at $1050 per hour. They got every cent in the escrow account, and we got instructions on how to receive a plastic bag from WalMart, courtesy of our local brokerage agent.
Now in all fairness, I had 6500 shares (for about $3700), and I think he had over 30,000 shares, so he got screwed worse than I did.
If you think unreasonable risk is only here on pinkies, look at what they did to the stun gun maker a few years ago, with a fabricated FED investigation of insider trading. Didn't find anything, so Feds just dropped the investigation after over a year, with the company SP devistated ($37 down to $5). GLTY LC
