The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that advisor Jason LaBelle (LaBelle) has been accused by a securities regulator of potentially engaging in the sales of private securities among other allegations. LaBelle was sanctioned by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) concerning his private securities and undisclosed outside business activity conduct. According to BrokerCheck records, LaBelle was formerly registered with FINRA member firm LPL Financial LLC (LPL Financial). If you have been a victim of LaBelle’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.
In January 2020 FINRA found that that LaBelle consented to the sanctions and findings that he participated in an outside business activity involving a real estate development project that was financed with money lent by one of his customers without providing prior written notice to his firm. FINRA found that LaBelle falsely confirmed that he had fully disclosed his outside business activities on two annual compliance questionnaires submitted to his firm.
In June 2017 a customer filed a complaint concerning LaBelle where the customer alleged that LaBelle violated the securities laws by alleging the advisor made misrepresentations on the terms of a promissory note he recommended Plaintiffs purchased in February 2016, and without authorization withdrew money to purchase the note from Plaintiffs’ taxed deferred accounts. The complaint is currently pending.
According to LaBelle’s publicly disclosed records the he has several disclosed outside business activities including Berkshire Retirement Strategies (his d/b/a for LPL Financial), Brickhouse Mountain LLC (owner of office building), and Private Advisory Group (an RIA d/b/a).
Our law firm has significant experience bringing cases on behalf of defrauded victims when their advisors engage in receiving loans from clients or selling securities sales through OBAs. The sale of unapproved investment products – is a practice known in the industry as “selling away” – a serious violation of the securities laws. In the industry the term selling away refers to when a financial advisor solicits investments in companies, promissory notes, or other securities that are not pre-approved by the broker’s affiliated firm. Sometimes those investments have some legitimacy but often times these types of investments can end up being Ponzi schemes or the advisor can be engaging in the conversion of funds.
However, federal securities laws and the FINRA rules require firms to monitor and supervise its employees in order to detect and prevent brokers from offering investments in this fashion. In order to properly supervise their brokers each firm is required to have procedures in order to monitor the activities of each advisor’s activities and interaction with the public. Selling away misconduct often occurs where brokerage firms either fail to put in place a reasonable supervisory system or fail to actually implement that system. Supervisory failures allow brokers to engage in unsupervised misconduct that can include all manner improper conduct including selling away.
In cases of selling away the investor is unaware that the advisor’s investments are improper. In many of these cases the investor will not learn that the broker’s activities were wrongful until after the investment scheme is publicized, the broker is fired or charged by law enforcement, or stops returning client calls altogether.
LaBelle entered the securities industry in 2009. From June 2013 until July 2015 LaBelle was registered with Commonwealth Financial Network. From June 2015 until December 2019 LaBelle was registered with LPL Financial out of the firm’s Pittsfield, Massachussetts office location.
Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation. Investors may be able recover their losses through securities arbitration. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are experienced in representing investors in cases of selling away and brokerage firms failure to supervise their representatives. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.