Although many of the thousands of cases investors in Puerto Rico bonds and closed-end funds have brought over the last five years have focused on UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico (“UBS-PR”), other brokerage firms in the Commonwealth engaged in the same wrongful sales practices. One such firm that…
Articles Posted in FINRA
Financial Firms: UBS Settles with Virginia’s Regulator over Broker’s Unsuitable Recommendations, FINRA Fines Texas Broker-Dealer $225K for Mutual Fund Sales Violations, and an Ex-Client Seeks $500K from Carson Wealth while Alleging Excessive Fees
Virginia Regulator Fines UBS Financial After Its Broker Makes Unsuitable Recommendations To settle charges brought by Virginia’s State Corporate Commission accusing a UBS (UBS) broker of making unsuitable recommendations involving gold and precious metals securities to 18 clients, UBS Financial Services will pay $319K—$289K to the clients and $30K to…
Finra Bars Fired Merrill Lynch Broker Accused of Falsifying Class B Mutual Fund Share Sales Orders
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) has permanently barred fired Merrill Lynch broker Bhenoy (Ben) Dembla. According to InvestmentNews, The former broker was let go from the financial firm in 2016 for “falsifying documents” related to mutual fund sales. Dembla, who worked for Merrill the entire time he was a…
Investment Fraud: Capital Securities Must Pay Retired Teachers $3.8M and Investors Ask Court for Nearly $2.7M Judgment over High Risk Investment Losses
FINRA Panel Orders Capital Securities to Pay Retired Teachers $2.38M A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has awarded retired schoolteachers Beryl Lakin and Janice Patin $2.38M for losses they sustained while they were clients of Capitol Securities Management, which is based in Virginia. The two claimants, who are…
Retirement Losses: First Allied Securities and Financial Adviser to Pay Retirees Over $1.6M for Investment Advice, MetLife to Pay Another $189M to Individuals Owed Pensions, and Duke University Will Pay Over $10M to Settles Lawsuits Alleging ERISA Violations
Investors Alleging Negligence and Mishandling of Their Retirement Funds Win FINRA Case A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) panel arbitration is ordering First Allied Securities and financial adviser Larry Glenn Boggs to pay claimants and early retirees Nita and Mike Snow over $578K in compensatory damages, $500,000 in punitive damages,…
Investor Fraud: Quest Capital Strategies Must Pay Investor $276K in Woodbridge Ponzi Fraud, FINRA Warns Firms About Recommending Unsuitable 529 Plan Share Classes, and Ex-Ameritas Broker is Barred from the Securities Industry
Investor Awarded $276K in Woodbridge Ponzi Fraud A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has awarded more than $276K to an investor that lost money in the $1.2B Woodbridge Ponzi scam. The panel found that Quest Capital Strategies did not properly supervise former broker Frank Dietrich, who sold $400K…
Finra Bars Another Ex-Morgan Stanley Representative, Fines Firm $10M for AML Detection Deficiencies, and Orders It To Pay Two Investors $4.2M For Broker Fraud
Daniel Todd Levine, a former Morgan Stanley (MS) broker, has been barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority after he failed to cooperate in a probe into allegations that he may have taken part in outside business activities that he did not disclose to the broker-dealer while he worked for…
FINRA and SEC Reportedly Probe GPB Capital Holdings and The Brokerage Firms That Sold Its Private Placements
According to InvestmentNews, sources are reporting that GPB Capital Holdings is now under investigation by both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The probes come just a few months after Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin announced that he was conducting a…
Financial Firm News: Goldman Sachs Faces Criminal Fraud Charges in Malaysia and UBS is Fined $15M Over Poor Anti-Money Laundering Detection Systems and Multibillion-Dollar Fraud Involving 1MDB Fund Leads to Criminal Charges for Goldman
Prosecutors in Malaysia have filed criminal charges against a number of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) units and several people over a massive multibillion-dollar bond fraud involving the sovereign wealth fund the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The individuals charged including former Goldman managing directors Roger Ng Chong Hwa and Tim…
Merrill Lynch to Pay $300K to Settle Inadequate Supervision Allegations
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is ordering Merrill Lynch to pay $300K after finding that it did not properly supervise former broker Eva Weinberg, who went to prison for defrauding former NFL football player Dwight Freeney. Merrill, which is now a wholly-owned Bank of America (BAC) subsidiary, consented to…