Conflicts of Interest at Many Big Brokerages

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CONGRESS, regulators, trade bodies and the investment banks have launched separate investigations into the motives and methods of analysts in a widening post-mortem of the 1990s technology share boom.

Dozens of lawyers are also scouring analysts' reports and recommendations in a bid to uncover some error of judgment or fact that could trigger another billion-dollar claim for damages.

A string of damning reports revealing practices that regulators are attempting to stop has systematically debunked analysts' much-vaunted claims of independence.

Wall Street, which has a Florentine flair for preserving its own privileges, is urging Washington to let it put its …