"For many of my investor clients, death smells of opportunity and sometimes joy," Mr. Bailey wrote in an e-mail message.

"As a firm, we've always focused on the investor client and if the investor client had concerns in this area it was important to rebuild the trust between research, the firm and our investor clients."

Mr. Spitzer has contended that Merrill misled its investor clients by issuing exceedingly bullish reports to benefit its corporate customers.

For investor clients, the company offers large strategic joint ventures, opportunity funds, and other targeted investment options.

When chartered accountants are convinced that New York's government welcomes them, they will be warmer in their evaluation of New York for their investor clients.

Citi's Institutional Clients Group exploits investor clients.

Another is the disclosure to investor clients of detailed information about corporate relationships, including dollar amounts of fees.

In 1998, McCann took over the Global Institutional Client Division, where he was responsible for all debt and equity client relationships, overseeing more than 4,000 institutional investor clients worldwide.

But fund managers have a fiduciary duty to put investor clients' interests ahead of their own.

They consider what they are providing to be information that helps both their large investor clients and the typical individual investor.