The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that is has formally charged Malcolm Segal with running a Ponzi scheme and stealing investor money from his office in Pennsylvania. According to his BrokerCheck Report, Mr. Segal was formerly a registered stockbroker with Aegis Capital Corp. and Cumberland Advisors. Mr. Segal…
Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp. (BDFS) based out of West Des Moines, Iowa just learned the hard way that nontraditional Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are risky, speculative investments and are not appropriate for all investors. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently fined BDFS $75,000 for 1. failing to properly…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has permanently barred Nicholas Hansen Harper. Harper worked in Wells Fargo’s Topeka, Kansas branch office from 1997 through 2013 according to his BrokerCheck Report. Per the Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent filed with FINRA, Harper resigned from Wells Fargo on August 7, 2013,…
What should happen to a financial advisor (FA) if they provide unsuitable and inappropriate investment advice to their clients? First, if the unsuitable advice given to a customer caused losses to that customer’s account, the customer has the option to sue the FA in FINRA arbitration. Investors can recover some…
Is it okay for a broker-dealer to use bonuses and other incentives to encourage its financial advisors to steer customers into “in house” and proprietary funds that may not be right for them just to generate more fees for the firm? Or does this practice improperly (and illegally) incentivize the…
LPL Financial agreed to pay more than $11 million to settle charges in connection with a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) investigation into the firm, as recently reported in the Wall Street Journal. According to the Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent filed with FINRA, LPL Financial was alleged to…
Back in February, I wrote a piece on what to do when you get an SEC subpoena. SEC subpoenas are only part of the securities regulatory landscape. While the SEC can and will subpoena anyone – registered or unregistered – who is potentially the target of or may have helpful information…
A Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent was recently accepted by FINRA’s Department of Enforcement from Andre Paul Young. Mr. Young was accused of borrowing more than $200,000 from customers in violation of FINRA rules while a registered representative of MetLife Securities, Inc. Specifically, Mr. Young was accused of violating…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority recently censured Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith and fined the firm $100,000, sanctions to which the firm consented. These sanctions relate to Merrill Lynch’s alleged violation of several industry rules, including FINRA Rules 4370 and 2010. FINRA alleged that Merrill Lynch “failed to send…
InvestmentNews reported on January 29, 2015 that Girard Securities, Inc. is going to be audited by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and has requested what the Girard Securities Chairman and Chief Executive characterized as a massive request for data. As InvestmentNews reported, the request is not routine, and instead concerns…