Articles Tagged with broker violation

Beware of alternative investments.  A Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) was recently accepted by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA’s) Department of Enforcement from Robert Michael Diehl.  Mr. Diehl was accused of bypassing firm policy in order to sell equity indexed annuities (“EIAs”) while a registered representative of Park Avenue Securities LLC.  Specifically, Mr. Diehl was accused of violating FINRA Rules 2010 (Standards of Commercial Honor and Principles of Trade) and 3270 (Outside Business Activities of Registered Persons).

Equity indexed annuities are alternatives to fixed rate or variable rate annuities.  They are characterized by yielding interest returns at least partially based on equity indexes, such as the S&P 500, rather than mutual funds that are used in variable annuities.  They are generally considered complex investments that typically yield high commissions to the selling brokers and high penalties to investors for early termination.

According to the AWC, between September and October 2014, Mr. Diehl sold EIAs to two customers.  The AWC detailed that according to the firm’s compliance manual, Mr. Diehl was required to have the customers complete a non-brokerage account application for the EIAs sales, provide the customers with an Explanation of Investment form for EIAs, and submit these completed forms to his supervisor for review.

FINRA has announced that it has fined Aegis Capital Corp. $950,000 for sales of unregistered penny stocks and anti-money laundering violations.    According to FINRA, this fine was also related to supervisory failures within the firm.

The firm was not the only one that FINRA appears to have come down hard upon.  Reports show that Charles D. Smulevitz and Kevin C. McKenna, who each served as the firm’s Chief Compliance and AML Compliance Offices were given 30-day and 60-day principal suspensions and fined $5,000 and $10,000, respectively, per FINRA.  Aegis’ president, Robert Eide, was also reportedly given a “time-out” in the form of a 15-day suspension for failing to disclosed more than a half-million dollars in outstanding liens, in violation of FINRA rules.

FINRA reportedly found that from April of 2009 through June of 2011, Aegis liquidated almost 4 billion shares of penny stocks which were neither properly registered nor exempted from registration with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission.  According to FINRA, Aegis committed these violations in spite of a multitude of “red flags” or warning signs that something was amiss.

According to a recent Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) submitted by broker Brian Berger with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Mr. Berger has been banned from associating with a broker-dealer in the securities industry.  According to the AWC, in June 2015 FINRA “initiated an investigation into allegations that Mr. Berger had misappropriated funds from elderly customers with registered with Wells Fargo Advisors LLC and MetLife Securities, Inc.”  Mr. Berger was reported to be licensed by Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC from July 2010 through July 2014, and with MetLife Securities, Inc. from July 2014 to April 2015.  It is further reported that he was briefly licensed by a different broker-dealer named Newbridge Securities Corporation from April to June 2015.

As stated in the AWC, Mr. Berger did not to voluntarily participate in FINRA’s investigation, and as a result was barred from the securities industry.

Mr. Berger’s publicly available CRD Report describes several customer complaints that he has faced since 2011.  The CRD Report shows that a customer alleged that there were unauthorized payments made against the customer’s account for discover card accounts owned by the financial advisor.  Though reported that the customer alleged damages of approximately $175,000, the allegations were reported as settled for approximately $186,000.

A Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) was recently accepted by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA’s) Department of Enforcement from Adrian S. Lauer.  Mr. Lauer was accused of failing to disclose outside business activities on his Form U4 and to his employer.  Specifically, Mr. Lauer was accused of violating FINRA Rules 2010 (Standards of Commercial Honor and Principles of Trade) and 3270 (Outside Business Activities of Registered Persons).

It was alleged that from April 2011 through March 2014, Mr. Lauer participated in a 401(k) advisory business and worked as a webmaster for a college alumni club while employed at Securities America, Inc.  The AWC detailed that Mr. Lauer failed to disclose his participation in the advisory business, but later sought approval from the firm.  It was alleged that although the firm denied the request regarding the advisory business, Mr. Lauer also continued to participate in this business.  The AWC further detailed that while Mr. Lauer sought approval of his college alumni club activities after he had already begun participating, the firm informed him of the steps he needed to take for the firm to grant his request but he never followed the steps, still choosing to participate in the outside business activity.

The AWC detailed that as a result of his violations, Mr. Lauer consented to a 60-day suspension and a $5,000 fine.

According to a Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Thomas Buck has been barred by FINRA from working with any FINRA member firms. Mr. Buck was a former top broker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and was at the time a broker at RBC Wealth Management.

Mr. Buck was a registered broker at Merrill Lynch’s Carmel, Indiana office, which was part of the firm’s Indiana complex. While at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Buck, who reportedly oversaw $1.3 billion in assets, was accused of failing to discuss pricing alternatives with customers, among other allegations.  In addition, Mr. Buck was accused of unauthorized trading and using discretion in customer accounts improperly and in violation of FINRA Rules.

Buck was reportedly fired from Merrill Lynch in March.  Just four months after, he was reported as being barred from working at any FINRA-associated broker-dealer.  According to FINRA, Mr. Buck used commission-based accounts even though fee-based accounts would have been less expensive for clients. In some cases, clients were allegedly charged significantly more in commissions by virtue of the fact that they were not placed in fee-based accounts.

Per reports, William Galvin, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, recently filed complaints against Securities America and its broker Barry Armstrong over allegedly misleading advertisements that targeted vulnerable seniors.

Securities America allegedly participated in and failed to supervise Mr. Armstrong, in conducting a misleading radio advertising campaign.  In what has been described as a “bait and switch” technique, Mr. Armstrong reportedly ran the Alzheimer’s disease ads as a pretext to obtain the contact information needed to sell another service.

Mr. Armstrong, who hosts his own radio show, was said to have run ads on various AM radio stations that instructed listeners to call him for free information on Alzheimer’s disease.  Once listeners called in, their contact information was allegedly used to advertise financial services. According to reports, these deceptive ads were submitted to Securities America for review and were all approved by the firm.

“My broker dealer wants me to meet with its lawyers.”  This is the start of a FINRA registered representative’s worst nightmare.

Your heart is pounding and your head starts to race.  “Why me?” “What do they want to know?”  “What could I have done?”  “Are they going to ask me about the XYZ account?”  “I’m sure that I did everything right and by the book, didn’t I?”

If you did do something that may have been a violation of the law, FINRA Rules, or the firm’s manual, you will likely begin to think about the potential punishment (fine, suspension, termination) even before you hang up the phone or close the door to your office.  Once an investigation into your conduct starts, you are not able to leave with a “voluntary” termination, but at best would be “permitted to resign during a firm investigation.”

On July 1, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) accepted settlement offers from brokers Jonah Engler, Hector Perez, Jonathan Michael Sheklow and Joshua William Turney for their roles in selling fraudulent investments to 59 customers.  According to FINRA’s Orders Accepting Offers of Settlement, these individuals sold $3 million worth of Senior Secured Zero Coupon Notes issued by a company called Metals, Milling and Mining LLC.  Mr. Engler himself has settled 11 customer complaints over the years, according to the FINRA CRD system.  The Orders state that each of the brokers has been barred from associating with any FINRA member in the future.

As reported in the Orders, the Notes were sold upon misrepresentations that they would return 100% within one year by extracting valuable minerals left over from mining operations.  The Orders detailed that all investors, except for three, lost all of the money they invested, with those three investors being repaid with money from new investors, a classic sign of a Ponzi scheme.

The Order stated that the company that issued the notes was partially owned or controlled by a Managing Partner of the brokerage firm that the above brokers worked for.  When a brokerage firm owns a company that issues securities, this may create a conflict of interest between the broker-dealer and the customer, because the securities may be recommended in order for the brokerage firm to make money, and not because it is suitable or in the best interest of the customer.

It was recently reported that Keith M. Rogers, formerly employed by GLS & Associates, Inc., a FINRA broker-dealer, has been indicted and held on $2 million bond on securities fraud charges, where it was reported that he took investors’ money to pay for personal expenses and repay other investors, a classic Ponzi scheme scenario.  Previously, it was reported that Mr. Rogers was ordered by the Alabama Securities Commission to cease and desist from dealing in securities in the State of Alabama.  In September 2014, Mr. Rogers apparently consented to a bar from the securities industry was barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to cooperate in FINRA’s investigation into Mr. Roger’s alleged diversion of customer funds away from GLS brokerage accounts.  According to the Administrative Order filed by the Alabama Securities Commission Mr. Rogers facilitated transactions in a company called R&P Development LLC from 2009 through 2013, when he was registered by GLS & Associates, Inc. and Warren Averett Asset Management.

FINRA specifies strict rules on a broker’s ability to solicit business to businesses that are not run by their employing broker-dealer.  Malecki Law attorneys have seen instances where employing broker-dealers fail to properly supervise a broker’s activities.  According to FINRA Rules, Broker-dealers like GLS & Associates Inc. have an important non-delegable duty to supervise the conduct of their financial advisors and employees.  The firm may be held liable for customer losses if the firm failed to properly supervise their employees.  If a broker violates FINRA Rules or securities laws, both the broker and the broker’s employing firm may be held liable for the customer’s losses.

Malecki Law has previously represented many investors successfully in FINRA arbitration proceedings involving outside business activities and firms’ failures to supervise their registered representatives and financial advisors.  If you believe you have suffered losses as a result of questionable actions taken in your securities account, please contact us immediately for a confidential consultation.

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