Securities Lawyers Blog
The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that advisor Pratul Victor Agnihotri (Agnihotri) is under investigation for conversion of customer funds among other allegations. According to BrokerCheck records, Agnihotri is currently registered with The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member firm SW Financial. In addition, Agnihotri disclosed three customer complaints and one civil judgment. If you have been a victim of Agnihotri’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.
In October 2019 FINRA initiated an investigation concerning Agnihotri conduct related to FINRA’s preliminary determination to recommend that disciplinary action be brought against Agnihotri for potential violations including conversion of investor funds, engaging in an outside business activity without providing prior written notice to his FINRA member employer firms.
In October 2019 a customer complained that Agnihotri violated the securities laws by alleging that Agnihotri engaged in sales practice violations related to unauthorized trading, selling away, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence. The claim alleges $650,000 in damages and is currently pending.
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.
Agnihotri entered the securities industry in 1999. Agnihotri has worked for 12 firms over 19 years. From February 2010 until October 2017 Agnihotri was assoaicted with Aegis Capital Corp. From October 2017 until January 2019 Agnihotri was employed by Spartan Capital Securities, LLC. Finally, from since July 2019 Agnihotri has been registered with SW Financial out of the firm’s Melville, New York 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.