National Planning Ordered to pay $2.6M to Older Investor
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) panel is ordering National Planning Corp. to pay a customer, who is in her eighties, $2.6M after her former stockbroker, William August Glaser, sold her unsuitable investments. The investments including fraudulent promissory notes and non-traded REITs (real estate investment trusts). $1M of the award is for punitive damages.
William Glaser, who was fired by National Planning and barred by FINRA in 2017, is currently in prison for wire fraud.
Our broker misconduct lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) are looking into claims by other customers of William Glaser, who was a registered representative at nine firms during his 32 years in the industry. Contact SSEK Law Firm today.
Ex-National Planning Broker Accused of Elder Investor Fraud
As the FINRA arbitration award shows, broker-dealers can be held liable for the negligent and fraudulent actions of their brokers, which is why the claimant pursued her case against National Planning. Glaser was not named in the investor claim.
At SSEK Law Firm, our inadequate supervision attorneys have successfully gone up against the largest broker-dealers on Wall Street on behalf of investors.
In this FINRA arbitration case against National Planning, the elderly claimant, 84, made numerous allegations including:
- Common law fraud
- Breach of contract
- Negligent supervision
- Negligent representation
The customer contends that not only did Glaser persuade her to buy fake notes and expensive investments–nontraded REITS typically charge 8-10% percent commissions– but also he allegedly convinced her to cash in her annuities early, which cost $300K in surrender fees. He then allegedly recommended that she purchase investment products that were almost equivalent to the ones she had sold. Her lawyer contends that National Planning, which sells a lot of nontraded REITs and annuities, knew better than to make such recommendations to this particular client.
Unfortunately, elder investor fraud continues to be a serious problem in this industry. SSEK Law Firm is also experienced in helping older investors and their families.
Ex-National Planning Broker Convicted of Wire Fraud
In a different investor fraud case, Glaser was sentenced to three years in prison for persuading three clients to buy, through IRAs that he help them set up, over $1M in high yield unsecured promissory notes involving a construction company. That company never issued any payments on the notes and it has since been liquidated. Glaser made misrepresentations to the customers by claiming that he too had invested in the unsecured notes.
Four Customer Disputes
Glaser’s BrokerCheck record lists the other firms where he has been a registered representative. They include Investment Planners, Cutter & Co., JE Liss & Co.–FINRA expelled this firm in 2002– Walnut Street Securities, Mark Twain Brokerage Services, ISFA Corporation, and two other broker-dealers.
Already, four customer disputes are listed, with two of them still pending. Allegations made against Glaser include:
- Unsuitable investment recommendations
- Fraudulent or negligent misrepresentations
- Breach of fiduciary duty
- Gross malfeasance
- Fraud
- Misrepresentations and omissions
- Negligence
- Negligent supervision
Stockbroker Fraud Attorneys
Please contact our stockbroker fraud attorneys if former William Glaser was your broker while he was at National Planning or at any of the other broker-dealers where he worked and you sustained suspect and/or unnecessary investment losses. SSEK Law Firm works with investors throughout the US.