According to BrokerCheck records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) broker Michael Blumer (Blumer), previously associated with Spartan Capital Securities, LLC, has been subject to at least 2 disclosable events. These events include 2 customer complaints. Several of those complaints against Blumer concern allegations of high frequency trading activity also referred to as churning or excessive trading among other securities laws violations.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a award / judgment customer complaint with a damage request of $10,900,000.00 on October 10, 2022.
Michael Blumer was a subject of the customer’s complaint against his member firm that asserted the following causes of action: unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligence, unjust enrichment, strict liability, and failure to supervise.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $45,405.00 on April 18, 2022.
Negligence, Unsuitable investments, breach of fiduciary duty
In a practice known as churning, brokers may execute numerous trades, occasionally involving the same stock, over a brief span. Often times the account will completely “turnover” every month with different securities. The sole purpose of this kind of investment trading activity in a client’s account is to generate commissions that benefit the broker, not the investor. Churning is considered a species of securities fraud. The claim is based on excessive securities trading, the broker’s control over the account, and a fraudulent scheme to extract unlawful commissions from the investor. A similar claim, excessive trading, under FINRA’s suitability rule involves just the first two elements. Certain commonly used measures and ratios used to determine churning help evaluate a churning claim. These ratios look at how frequently the account is turned over plus whether or not the expenses incurred in the account made it unreasonable that the investor could reasonably profit from the activity.
According to newsources, a study revealed that 7.3% of financial advisors had a customer complaint on their record when records from 2005 to 2015 were examined. Brokers must publicly disclose reportable events on their BrokerCheck reports that include customer complaints, IRS tax liens, judgments, investigations, terminations, and criminal cases. In addition, research has shown a disturbing pattern with troublesome brokers where brokers with high numbers of customer complaints are not kicked out of the industry but instead these brokers are sifted to lower quality brokerage firms with loose hiring practices and higher rates of customer complaints. These lower quality firms may average brokers with five times as many complaints as the industry average.
Blumer has been in the securities industry for more than 16 years. Blumer has been registered as a Broker with Spartan Capital Securities, LLC since 2023.
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.