Securities fraud costs investors billions of dollars annually. Sometimes the promoter is the fraudster (think Bernie Madoff) and other times it is the stockbroker trying to make a quick buck. This week the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority – FINRA – levied a whopping $7.5 million fine against LPL securities for email violations. Email violations? Thats […]
Hooters Girls and Investment Fraud
The story written by Bruce Kelly of Investment News had all the makings of a tabloid scandal. Stockbrokers, forged documents, sexual harassment, an SEC investigation, Hooters girls and the misappropriation of customer funds from a prominent brokerage firm. The problem is that Kelly is a real journalist and the story he penned today about Commonwealth […]
Success Trades Securities In Trouble? FINRA Says Yes (stockbroker fraud post)
by Brian Mahany Success Trades Securities has a great name. They also have the financial backing of many NFL and NBA players. Regulators say that some of these players invested in the company in exchange for a promised rate of return between 12 and 26%. Banking news source bank rate.com says the average interest rate […]
Stockbrokers Dont Want To Air Dirty Laundry – Stockbroker Fraud Post
by Brian Mahany We are firm believers in full and complete disclosure. Americans are smart enough to understand that not every complaint against a stockbroker is legitimate. Many complaints are unfounded or frivolous. But as customers and clients, we should have the right to know if other complaints are pending against a broker. Under a […]
Merrill Lynch Loses Appeal of FINRA decision – stockbroker fraud post
by Brian Mahany Chalk up another victory for the good guys. Over a year ago, we were quite excited when an arbitration panel for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority – FINRA – issued a $64 million decision against Bank of America subsidiary Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. The euphoria was short lived as ML immediately appealed […]
FINRA Arbitration Panel Slams Oppenheimer For Churning Customer's Account
by Brian Mahany Although the stock market has been doing relatively well in recent months, not everyone makes money. For every winner there is a loser. For retired Texan Lloyd Gillespie, he was the big loser while Oppenheimer and his brokers were the winners. An arbitration panel from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) agreed […]
Merrill Lynch Ordered To Pay Couple $1.3 Million – Securities Fraud
by Brian Mahany Every week we scan the arbitration decisions published by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Never a week goes by without several brokers being held to task for hurting the very customers that hired them for their financial expertise. Many times the brokers worked for little boiler room operations that simply disappear […]
Cal Appeals Court Helps Bad Brokers Hide Their Record From Investors
by Brian Mahany We have long been a fan of BrokerCheck, the free web based database that allows the public to see what type of complaint and disciplinary history their broker has. To be sure, the system has some flaws but it is still a great way to perform your own due diligence on stockbrokers. […]
Bloomberg Column Calls For End FINRA Arbitration Panels
by Brian Mahany William Cohan, a journalist and author of a popular column on Bloomberg View, calls for the end of FINRA arbitration panels. For those readers not familiar with FINRA, the acronym stands for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Virtually anyone who has opened a brokerage account has signed an agreement saying that all […]
As The World Churns – FINRA Socks Stockbroker For $1.9 Million
by Brian Mahany Churning is a bad word in the securities industry. It happens when a stockbroker engages in excessive buying and selling of securities in a customer’s account. The motive is almost always high commissions. Each transaction generates a commission – the more turnover in an account the more the broker makes. (Investment advisers […]
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