FINRA investigation

Adam F. Coblin Is No Longer A Registered Broker and Financial Advisor and Has Been the Subject of Ten Customer Complaints

August 28, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The securities fraud attorneys at Malecki Law are interested in hearing from investors with complaints involving Adam F. Coblin. Per his BrokerCheck Report, maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Mr. Coblin is currently not a registered stock broker or investment advisor. He was previously registered with the Gilford Securities Incorporated in New York.

Mr. Coblin’s BrokerCheck Report indicates that he has been the subject of at least ten customer complaints. At the center of several of these complaints was unsuitable investments leading to huge financial losses, negligence in handling customer accounts, unauthorized sales. In 2013, Adam Coblin resigned from Gilford Securities while he was being reviewed for customer complaints involving unsuitable investments, activity and negligence.

According to BrokerCheck, there are numerous customer disputes in the past, dating from 2012 to 1995, involving Mr. Coblin which have been settled by awarding damages of $910,000, $3,000, $107,500 and $32,000. He has also been registered with the GMS Group LLC, Spencer Clarke LLC, Broadband Capital Management LLC, Dalton Kent Securities Group, Bluestone Capital Partners, Gruntal & Co., Prudential Securities Inc., Oppenheimer & Co., Merill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Co., Bear Stearns & Co.

BROKER REPORT: Churning Complaints Regarding Dwarka Persaud

August 18, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The securities fraud attorneys are interested in hearing from investors with complaints involving Dwarka Persaud. Per his BrokerCheck Report, maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Mr. Persaud is a registered stock broker with Buckman, Buckman & Reid, based out of Shrewsbury, NJ.

Mr. Persaud’s BrokerCheck Report indicates that he has been the subject of at least six customer complaints. At the center of several of these complaints was churning and excessive commissions. Churning is the frequent,over-trading of a customer’s account by the broker to generate high commissions paid by the customer, benefitting the broker and the firm. Churning is against the law and industry regulations.

Mr. Persaud is reportedly the subject of at least two currently pending customer complaints, each alleging and “unauthorized trading.” One of these complaints also alleges churning. The other alleges that the unauthorized trading caused more than $45,000 in losses.

Former Caldwell Broker, Richard Adams, Barred by FINRA for Churning Customer Accounts

August 14, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Per Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) announcement this week, a former registered representative of Caldwell International Securities Corp., Richard Adams aka Rasheed Aree Adams, has been barred permanently from the securities industry for churning customer accounts, other securities violations, and failure to report many unsatisfied judgments and liens on his U4 Registration Form as stipulated in FINRA rules. In addition to Caldwell, he was also previously registered with PHD Capital and E1 Asset Management Inc. from 2002 to 2011.

FINRA’s investigation revealed that Adams excessively traded the accounts of two customers, between July 2013 and June 2014, resulting in profits and commissions in the excess of $57,000 for himself while resulting in losses amounting to over $37,000 for customers. The findings stated that as a result Adams willfully violated section 10(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and rule 10B-5, willfully failed to amend Form U4, and failed to provide documents requested by FINRA. Adams neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings.

Richard Adams is no stranger to regulatory and legal proceedings and has a reported history of customer disputes and violations. According to the CRD 13 judgement/liens, 5 customer disputes, 2 investigations and 1 regulatory disclosures have been reported against him. In 2001 there were allegations of unsuitability, unauthorized trading, and churning made against him while he was employed at The Golden Lender Financial Group, Inc, and this customer dispute was finally settled for $10,000. Currently, there is a pending FINRA investigation against Adams for potential violation of FINRA rules 2010 and 2111, and willful violations of Article V, section 2 from 2014.

Former Park Avenue Securities, LLC Broker Robert Michael Diehl Suspended by FINRA

August 5, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

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.

Aegis Capital Fined By FINRA; Senior Management Suspended

August 4, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

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.

Broker Brian Berger Barred From Securities Industry Over Questions Concerning Misappropriation of Customer Funds

July 31, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

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.

I’m FINRA Licensed and Under Internal Investigation: What Should I Do?

July 23, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

“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.”

Broker Keith M. Rogers Indicted on Securities Fraud Charges in Alabama

June 24, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

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.