Dutch prosecutor Jan Koers accused Irving Kott of fraud, tax evasion and various other crimes. Dutch authorities raided his First Commerce in 1986 and forced it into bankruptcy.

For years, the securities industry in the U.S. and elsewhere has been host to fast-buck brokerage firms that have ridden the back of the bull market like so many parasites. Typically, they hype penny stocks in tiny companies that are all promise and no delivery and then close up shop…