FINRA

Investors Claims Against Santander for Puerto Rico Bond Fraud Losses are Increasing

Published on: March 2, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 has also been the subject of many new FINRA arbitrations and other lawsuits is Santander Securities, LLC (“Santander”), a division of Banco Santander Puerto Rico. The large number of cases against Santander are not a surprise given the public information about Santander. For example, Bloomberg reports that between the ends of 2012 and 2013, Santander marketed and sold over $280 million in Puerto Rico municipal bonds and close-end funds while reportedly selling its own holdings of these same securities.

Santander also has a regulatory history that suggests ongoing problems with the Puerto Rico operations for the bank. For example, in 2011, Santander settled allegations from FINRA of deficiencies in Santander’s structured product business, including those involving the sale of reverse-convertible securities to Puerto Rican retail customers when such investments were often unsuitable for them. FINRA also accused the brokerage firm of inadequate supervision of structured product sales. Santander agreed to pay a $2 million fine for these alleged deficiencies. More recently, in 2015, FINRA fined Santander $2 million and ordered restitution to Santander customers of an additional $4.3 million for Santander’s sales practices related to Puerto Rico bonds and closed-end funds. In particular, FINRA found that Santander’s supervisory system did not accurately reflect the risk of Puerto Rico investments in the period leading up to the collapse of the Puerto Rico market in 2013 and 2014. However, Santander was aware of the increased risk, and according to FINRA, instead of informing its clients of these increased risks, used that knowledge to sell its entire inventory of Puerto Rico investments by the end of October 2013, and thus missing much of the losses Santander’s own clients suffered.

In other Puerto Rico news, the 1st Circuit court of invalidated the PROMESA board which provides oversight for restructuring local debt. After the board placed Puerto Rico in a bankruptcy like process, many hedge funds and institutional corporate investors were unhappy as their investments were now in jeopardy. These entities filed a constitutional challenge to the way the board was appointed and eventually won on appeal. The ruling was not much of a win however, as the 1st Circuit refused to invalidate the board’s prior actions, which included placing Puerto Rico in the bankruptcy like proceedings, even though they invalidated the board itself.

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

Published on: February 19, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 the state.

Virginia’s regulator contends that unsuitable recommendations were made in 2013 and 2014 and caused UBS clients to hold an overconcentration of these securities, which were not even suitable for some of them. The state said that this violated its securities rules.

Finra Bars Fired Merrill Lynch Broker Accused of Falsifying Class B Mutual Fund Share Sales Orders

Published on: February 7, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 broker from 2001 to 2016, is accused of submitting fake sell orders to get around the firm ’s electronic order system protections. The protections should have stopped the submission of Class B share purchase orders once these had exceeded the accumulation limit.

According to FINRA, Dembla would submit the bogus sell orders, which the system would accept, and then he would cancel the orders. All of this made it possible for certain customers to go over Class B share thresholds with their purchases.

Investment Fraud: Capital Securities Must Pay Retired Teachers $3.8M and Investors Ask Court for Nearly $2.7M Judgment over High Risk Investment Losses

Published on: February 6, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 former coworkers, alleged excessive trading, fraud, and unauthorized withdrawals and fund transfers. They accused one of the financial firm’s former registered representatives of stealing money out of their Capitol accounts.

The financial rep. whom they are accusing was Patin’s nephew, who has since committed suicide. Finra documents name him as “Mr. T.”

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

Published on: February 4, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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, $350K in attorney’s fees, and $60K in other costs related to losses they sustained. Boggs had worked with the Snows on their early retirement plan, which included investing in the Sun America Life-issued variable annuity the Polaris Advantage II and other investments.

In their securities arbitration claim, the Snows sought compensation from Boggs, First Allied Securities, First Allied Advisory Securities, and American Retirement Solutions of Louisiana, LLC. All of them denied wrongdoing.

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

Published on: January 31, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 of Woodbridge-sponsored mortgage notes to the investor.

According to InvestmentNews, Dietrich sold $10.8M of Woodbridge mortgage funds to 58 investors, making nearly $261K in commissions. He retired in March. In November, FINRA barred him after finding that the former broker did not obtain Quest’s approval to sell the notes.

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

Published on: January 10, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 the firm. Levine was a Morgan Stanley broker based in Denver, Colorado between 2013 and July 2018 when he stepped down. His next employer was First Financial Equity Corp., but that brokerage firm fired him a few weeks later after he did not notify them about the FINRA investigation.

According to Levine’s BrokerCheck record, he previously worked with Prudential Securities, Merrill Lynch, and UBS (UBS). He was employed in the securities industry for over 20 years.

A number of other former Morgan Stanley brokers have recently made news headlines over allegations of broker fraud. Last month, FINRA announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Ami Forte, who is accused of making unauthorized trades in the account of now deceased Home Shopping Network co-founder Roy M. Speer. In November, former Morgan Stanley financial adviser James Polese was sentenced to five years behind bars after pleading guilty to defrauding customers of over $1M.

FINRA and SEC Reportedly Probe GPB Capital Holdings and The Brokerage Firms That Sold Its Private Placements

Published on: December 24, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 widespread probe into over 60 brokerage firms that sold private placements that came from GPB Capital Holdings. Now, both federal securities regulators are also reportedly looking into these broker-dealers.

GPB, which mostly purchases auto dealerships, raised about $1.8B from investors who bought GPB private placement shares. InvestmentNews reports that according to one brokerage executive, the private placements’ loads were as follows: Investors paid 10% commission to the brokerage firm and financial representative that sold them the shares and they paid 2% went for organization and offering expenses.

Another source reportedly told InvestmentNews that at issue for the SEC in its investigation are:

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

Published on: December 20, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 Leissner, financier Jho Low, who is accused of masterminding the fraud, and ex-1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan.

Malaysia Attorney General Tuan Tommy Thomas said that the criminal charges are related to fake and misleading statements issued in order to steal $2.7B from the proceeds of three 1MDB subsidiary issued-bonds. The bonds, which Goldman organized and underwrote, were valued at over $6B.

The defendants are accused of conspiring together to bribe public officials in Malaysia so as to allow for Goldman’s involvement with the bonds. The investment bank earned about $600M in fees for its work with the Malaysian sovereign fund.

Merrill Lynch to Pay $300K to Settle Inadequate Supervision Allegations

Published on: December 14, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

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 the fine and censure imposed for not properly investigating and overseeing Weinberg even after the firm had internally flagged three of her emails and a $1.7M default judgment had been rendered against her in a civil case. (It should be noted that this case is not listed on her BrokerCheck record but was reported by InvestmentNews.)

What Weinberg’s BrokerCheck record does state is that she began working in the industry in 1988, but then in 2004 she took several years away to work at a real estate company owned by a man named Michael Stern, who is also now in prison for defrauding Freeney. Even before Freeney, however, Stern already had a criminal record.

FINRA said that when Weinberg applied to Merrill for employment in 2009, she did not mention the years she had spent working for Stern. The broker-dealer went on to hire her in their Miami office where she worked with professional athletes, including Freeney. She is the one who introduced the former NFL player to Stern.