First Allied Securities

Established in 1994, First Allied Securities is a full-service broker-dealer licensed to operate throughout the United States. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, the firm is a Cetera Financial Group affiliate. Its registered representatives include financial professionals that may also be investment advisers who operate locally under their business names. Their affiliation with First Allied Securities allows them to sell investments to customers.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) represents clients with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claims against First Allied Securities. We work with investors seeking to recover investment and bond losses caused by unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentations and omissions, churning, unauthorized trading, and other kinds of broker misconduct or negligence.

In 2022, our brokerage firm arbitration attorneys and securities lawyers for Menzer & Hill, PA, won a $2.6M arbitration award for a retired Arizona couple against First Allied Securities. The claimants accused the broker-dealer of unsuitably recommending non-traded real estate investment trusts (non-traded REITs) and other risky, illiquid products. This award was the full amount requested by these investors and included market-adjusted damages.

According to First Allied Securities’ Central Registration Depository CRD, it has thirty-four disclosures, including thirty-eight regulatory events. Examples of these regulatory cases include:

2017: The brokerage firm agreed to pay more than $876K in a FINRA case accusing First Allied Securities of disadvantaging certain charitable organizations and retirement plan customers that had qualified not to have to pay front-end sales charges on Class A shares in certain mutual funds.

2016: FINRA fined First Allied Securities $950K for alleged supervisory failures involving variable annuity L-shares. The broker-dealer and seven other firms were accused of not providing their financial advisors with reasonable guidance regarding whom these short-term investments would be most suitable for.

2015: FINRA ordered First Allied Securities to pay more than $689K in restitution and a $325K fine for allegedly failing to apply available sales discounts, when applicable, to certain unit investment trust (UIT) purchased by customers.

2010: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and First Allied Securities arrived at a settlement in which the brokerage firm agreed to settle civil charges by paying $1.95M. The allegations were related to the regulator’s case the year before, involving ex-First Allied Securities financial advisor Harold Jaschke, who allegedly engaged in churning, unauthorized transactions, and unsuitability in customers’ accounts.

Over the years, our investment loss lawyers have investigated some First Allied Securities financial advisors after their clients reported unexpected or excessive losses. Some examples:

• Former First Allied Securities broker William Frederick Fox, now with LPL Financial. One ex-customer received a $365K settlement for losses related to private placements, non-traded REITs, oil and gas investments, and other products.
• FINRA-barred broker Masood Hussain Azad was fired by First Allied Securities in 2017. Multiple customers filed FINRA arbitration claims and reached settlements.
• Barred by FINRA in 2020, former First Allied Securities broker Shlomo Strugano has been accused by former customers of unsuitability, misrepresentations, negligence, misappropriation, elder abuse, and other allegations.
• Related to the alleged misconduct of its former Reseda, CA financial advisor Larry Glenn Boggs, First Allied Securities was ordered by FINRA arbitration lawyers and a panel to pay nearly $1.5M, including punitive damages.
• In August 2022, ex-First Allied Securities broker Chad Ryan Barancyk had at least ten pending customer disputes on record. FINRA also indefinitely suspended him beginning July 2022.

You must contact a seasoned FINRA attorney to help you determine whether your investment losses are due to normal market activity or whether some type of financial advisor negligence or broker fraud was a factor. SSEK Law Firm has been helping investors for over 30 years to file properly legally represented FINRA arbitration claims against their broker-dealers.

Over the years, our skilled investment loss attorneys and securities attorneys have helped thousands of investors, including retail customers, retirees, high-net-worth individual investors, and institutional investors, to recover damages in arbitration, mediation, and litigation. SSEK Law Firm has the skills, resources, and experience to go up against even the biggest firms on Wall Street.

Call (800) 259-9010 or contact us online to schedule your free no-obligation case consultation.