Louisiana Broker Fraud Attorneys
Our Seasoned New Orleans Securities Law Firm Represents Investors Against US-Based Broker-Dealers
Trusting a financial professional to manage your funds comes with the hope that they will, at the very least, keep your money safe if not grow your assets. Unfortunately, that isn’t always what happens. Investors have been known to suffer serious portfolio losses due to broker fraud or misconduct. From our Metairie securities law offices in Jefferson Parish, Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (investorlawyers.com) represents Louisiana clients in pursuing damages from US-based broker-dealers through arbitration, mediation, and litigation.
What Is Stockbroker Fraud?
According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which oversees broker-dealers and their registered representatives, in 2020 alone it received nearly 5,500 complaints from investors. While financial advisor fraud can involve the intent to purposely misappropriate money from a customer, there are also other kinds of stockbroker misconduct or negligence that may warrant grounds for a lawsuit, such as:
Unauthorized trading: This happens when a financial advisor makes trades in a client’s account without their permission.
Omission or misrepresentation of material facts: This occurs when a broker misleads you or leaves out key information about a particular investment product or financial strategy. Our seasoned New Orleans broker misconduct attorneys can’t tell you how many investors come to us saying they were never fully apprised of the risks involved.
Churning: Also called excessive trading, a broker usually churns primarily to earn commissions from each trade. These fees add up to cause an investor unnecessary losses.
Selling away: This typically involves a financial advisor marketing and selling investments that were not properly vetted and/or approved by the broker-dealer. The risk of loss goes up even more when the investments being offered are unregistered securities, which—barring exemptions—are less regulated and provide less protections for investors.
Unsuitability: One of the most common reasons cited in Louisiana stockbroker fraud lawsuits, this allegation is often used to describe when a financial advisor markets a financial product that is unsuitable for the customer given the latter’s investment goals, age, risk-tolerance level, or investing experience.
Failure to Supervise: This is the term for when the broker-dealer failed to properly manage or train a financial advisor and this negligence allowed the stockbroker fraud to happen.
Overconcentration: When your broker fails to properly diversify your account and invests too much of your money in one particular investment or segment of the market, serious investment losses can occur.
How Do You Know If You Have Grounds For A New Orleans Broker Misconduct Lawsuit?
This is tough to figure out if you don’t have a trusted Louisiana securities law firm representing you. Investors lose and gain money on the markets all the time through no one’s fault. However, if you believe that your broker’s wrongful or careless actions contributed to your losses somehow—even if they had no idea the financial product they marketed to you was part of a massive investment scam—you may be able to sue your broker-dealer for damages.
With Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, our Metairie, LA broker-dealer negligence lawyers have been representing investors for over 30 years. Before that, many of us were former financial advisors at some of the largest Wall Street firms where we witnessed a lot of unsavory practices. We now use that former insider knowledge to fight for our clients.
Should we agree to work together, not only can we determine whether your investor losses merit a broker fraud arbitration claim, but also we will provide you with seasoned securities law representation. This usually means going after your broker-dealer on your behalf and filing your lawsuit in FINRA arbitration. Unlike going to court, it will be up to a panel of arbitrators to rule on your case and you will have virtually no opportunity to appeal the decision if it doesn’t go in your favor. This is yet another reason why you need savvy New Orleans investment loss recovery lawyers advocating for you from the start.
Why Hire Our Knowledgeable Louisiana Broker Fraud Lawsuit Attorneys?
When you retain our securities law firm, you are hiring our entire team of skilled attorneys, personal assistants, and consultants to represent you. We have over a combined century’s worth of experience in the securities industry and securities law. We also have a record of obtaining damages for investors. As a matter of fact, more than 90% of our clients have received full or partial financial recovery with our help.
Contact Our Metairie, LA Financial Advisor Misconduct Law Firm
Call (504) 324-0252 or (800) 259-9010
Our New Orleans Broker Fraud Office
Lakeway Two
3850 N Causeway Blvd #200-B
Metairie, LA 70002