My first encounter with David Lerner Associates came in July 2011. That month I spoke with a pleasant woman who had invested heavily with a David Lerner Associates broker in an Apple REIT (real estate investment trust). She was calling for advice on whether she accept their offer to buy back her REIT investment. “At […]
Investment Fraud Roundup – September 2013
This post summarizes recent enforcement actions against stockbrokers. You may be able to recover your money if you suffered losses as a result of investment fraud, unregistered offerings of securities, excessive trades, unauthorized trades, bad investment advice (suitability rules), or broker misconduct. Kevin Cline, Robert Burr, Vincent Christopher & Thomas Gilleland – Source Capital Group Kevin […]
Lincoln Financial Advisors Rep Sanctioned By FINRA
Lincoln Financial Advisors says it wants to be the country’s “premier fee-based financial planning firm.” A recent decision by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) Enforcement Department suggests that the firm is off to a rocky start. FINRA sanctioned former registered rep and investment advisor William Babb III with “trading away” and failure to cooperate […]
TIC Awards Still Haunt Brokerage Firms
Claims for failed Tenants in Common (TIC) investments still haunt stockbrokers and investment advisers according to a story in InvestmentNews. According to the report published on Friday, arbitration awards continue to be made against broker dealers. TICs were a popular investment vehicle several years ago. An IRS ruling allowed individuals to pool their monies and […]
LPL Broker Charged With Securities Fraud
Less than 24 hours ago we wrote a story about securities fraud and the need for brokerage firms to protect clients against advisers who rip off clients by “selling away.” Today the SEC announced it charged a former LPL Financial stockbroker, Blake Richards, with securities fraud after accusing him of stealing $2 million in client […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Forgotten Investor (Protecting Investors From Fraud)
by Brian Mahany The headline in today’s Wall Street Journal reads “Insider – Trading Probe Widens.” Further down on the front page in smaller type is an article titled, “For Many Financial Advisers, Stocks Become A Hard Sell.” Is it any wonder why? While the Dow Jones Industrial Average is sitting at 13,200 this morning, […]
Merrill Lynch Fined $1mm For Fraud
by Brian Mahany Brokerage giant Merrill Lynch was fined $1 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to supervise one of its stockbrokers. That broker, Bruce Hammonds, defrauded investors out of over $1 million through a Ponzi scheme he conducted while working at Merrill Lynch. In addition to the fine, Merrill will […]
Brokerage Giant Raymond James In Court Over Suitability Decision
by Brian Mahany Raymond James is a large broker dealer with dozens of offices nationwide. Occasionally one of their stockbrokers makes a mistake. No surprises there. Raymond James’ handling of the case, however, is shocking. Hurshel Tyler is in his late 80’s. In May he won a $1.7 million award from a FINRA arbitration panel. […]