Foreword Reviews
August 15, 2002
Merrill Lynch: The Cost Could Be Fatal
By Brian Gilmore
Call this author a man with daring. An ex-stockbroker with legendary corporate giant, Merrill Lynch, Schooley took a bold chance in 1992. After witnessing questionable conduct by the management of the Merrill Lynch field office where he was employed in Enid, Oklahoma, Schooley contacted the corporate board of the company hoping they subscribed to the same level of morals and ethics.
He “could have ignored the problems” when he witnessed inappropriate activities, kept his job, and went on with his life. But Schooley didn’t. His fateful choice resulted in his termination, the loss of his marriage and family, and led to a long, legal fight for Schooley against the company.
Schooley’s story of his ordeal against Merrill Lynch is impressive in detail. The book fits right in with the current climate in America of rampant corporate scandals. Schooley’s lawyer, Stephen Jones, wrote a letter to the Oklahoma attorney general and included this list of crimes: perjury; conspiracies; embezzlement; falsification of records; insurance law violations; illegal sale of securities by brokers not registered to sell them; misrepresentation of securities; and misappropriation of property….
..His story revolves around repeated examples of uncouth management cover-ups, a lackadaisical board of directors, and the final farce of going to arbitration.
As difficult as it gets, Schooley always seems to gather strength through the tough times. He felt it important that his story be told regardless of how things unraveled for him in the end. If anything, Merrill Lynch: The Cost Could Be Fatal confirms that large corporations cannot maintain the high ideals as described in their own literature to the public and employees.