According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Adam Maggio (Maggio), currently associated with Vcs Venture Securities / Joseph Stone Capital L.l.c., has at least 2 disclosable events. These events include one customer complaint, one regulatory event, alleging that Maggio recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $2,087,663.24 on January 03, 2022.
Churning, negligence and unsuitability, failure to supervise, unauthorized trading, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation and omissions, lost opportunity damages, and punitive damages.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on December 10, 2021.
Without admitting or denying the findings, Maggio consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he failed to reasonably supervise trading in certain customer accounts for potentially excessive activity. The findings stated that Maggio failed to identify red flags of excessive trading. Maggio did not review exception reports that flagged accounts with high commission-to-equity ratios. Instead, Maggio tried to identify excessively traded accounts using his own manual calculations, which compared the commissions charged in an account to the account’s current value, rather than its average net equity, and which often understated the cost-to-equity ratio. On certain occasions, Maggio’s manual review did not identify accounts that had red flags of excessive trading, including accounts with cost-to-equity ratios greater than 20 percent. As a result, certain accounts continued to be actively traded and were charged high commissions. The findings also stated that Maggio failed to reasonably to respond to red flags of excessive trading. On certain occasions, Maggio responded to red flags of excessive trading by restricting the commissions that representatives could charge on individual trades, but he did not limit the aggregate costs and commissions charged to the affected accounts. As a result, representatives could place more frequent trades in a customer’s account and thereby continue to charge customers similar aggregate commissions. Maggio also did not restrict commissions on certain trades where the customer made a realized gain, irrespective of the overall amount of commissions that had been charged.
Brokers are required to adhere to the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) standard of care under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 which establishes a ‘best interest’ standard for broker-dealers and associated persons. This standard applies when a registered representative is providing investment advice through making recommendations customers and covers securities transaction, investment strategies, and recommendations concerning advice on opening of an account or accounts. Reg BI applies when brokers recommend a retail investor engage in securities transaction or an investment strategy involving one or more securities. Reg BI also applies to financial advice concerning the transfer of funds and opening of accounts.
Next, the broker must understand the investor’s investment background and profile. A customer’s profile includes information that describes the investor’s financial situation and needs. Information here will include their outside securities accounts and investments; relevant assets and debts; tax bracket; age; liquidity needs; risk tolerance; investment time horizon; experience with investing; investment objectives; and any other relevant information that the investor may choose to disclose pertinent to their situation. The SEC has stated that Reg BI is drawn from fiduciary principles that are common to both brokers and investment advisors including an obligation to act in the investor’s best interest and prohibiting an advisor from placing their own interests ahead of the investor’s. There are several different aspects of the rule that brokers must comply with. One of which is the care obligations which require brokers to form a reasonable belief that their investment advice and recommendations are in the retail investor’s best interest. The care obligations include three components. First, the advisor must have an understanding of the potential risks, rewards, and costs associated with a product, investment strategy, account type, or series of transactions.
The care obligation also requires the broker to address the client’s specific needs through obtaining specific investment profile information on the client. The associated person typically will ask the customer for information such as the investor’s risk tolerance or ability to withstand account value declines or increases; experience with investments available; investment objectives and goals; investment time horizon; liquidity needs; assets such as investment accounts held at other financial institutions; tax information; their age and retirement plans; and other information that a customer may want to provide to the advisor to help them to properly address the services needed. The associated person must then apply both their reasonable diligence into various investment options as well as the information gathered as to the investor’s specific needs when considering the investment recommendation. The broker must explore various alternative investment options available to address these needs and determine that there is a reasonable basis to believe that the recommendation or service being recommended is in the retail investor’s best interest. Brokerage firms and advisors must also understand the features and limitations of various account types as part of meeting Reg BI’s care obligations. Firms typically offer a variety of account options and services with different trading costs, services, such as account and activity monitoring. An advisor’s recommendation as to what type of securities account to open can alter the customers’ overall costs and investment returns. The advisor must determine that the client can benefit from the type of account being recommended to be opened and in the investor’s best interest taking into account the costs, benefits, and needs of the client.
Maggio entered the securities industry in 2002. Maggio has been registered as a Broker with Vcs Venture Securities since 2021, and with Joseph Stone Capital L.l.c. since 2013.
Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation. At Gana Weinstein LLP, our attorneys are experienced representing investors who have suffered securities losses due to the mishandling of their accounts. Claims may be brought in securities arbitration before FINRA. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.