In February 2017, broker James Geake (Geake) was subject to a customer complaint alleging $347,083 in damages concerning equity indexed annuities. The customer alleges that he was sold equity indexed annuities that gave the broker a bonus for signing clients and that it was a bait and switch scheme. The…
Articles Posted in Fiduciary Duties
Gana LLP Investigates Pharmaceutical Companies Underwritten by Brokerage Firms
The securities lawyers of Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating pharmaceutical company stocks underwritten and recommended by brokers at National Securities Corporation and vFinance. IPOs and offerings of small pharmaceutical companies are incredibly risky – on par with the risks of penny stocks. Most small pharmaceutical companies have limited business operations…
Centaurus Broker Bryon Martinsen Subject to Multiple Complaints Over Alternative Investments
Our investment attorneys are investigating customer complaints filed with The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against Bryon Martinsen (Martinsen) currently associated with Centaurus Financial, Inc. (Centaurus) alleging unsuitable investments, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentations, and fraud among other claims. According to brokercheck records Martinsen has been subject to five customer…
Customers Complain About Broker Alan Thomilson’s Annuity Practices
Our firm’s investment attorneys are investigating customer complaints filed with The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against Alan Thomilson (Thomilson) currently associated with Lincoln Financial Securities Corporation (Lincoln Financial) alleging unsuitable recommendations to invest in variable products such as variable annuities, equity indexed annuities, and variable life insurance. According to…
Wells Fargo Financial Advisor Charles Lynch Accused of Unsuitable Energy Related Investments
The securities lawyers of Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating a number of customer complaints involving Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC (Wells Fargo) brokers, including financial advisor Charles Lynch (Lynch), concerning allegations that the investors have been recommended or their advisory accounts have been mismanaged to hold high concentrations of energy related…
Broker John Galinsky Suspended For Failing to Pay Arbitration Award
According to the BrokerCheck records kept by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) broker John Galinsky (Galinsky) has been the subject of at least 4 customer complaints, 2 regulatory actions, 2 employment separations for cause, and two criminal matters. In the most recent action, eleven claimants brought claims against Matrix Capital…
FINRA Alleges National Securities Corporation Misled Customers On Fees
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) entered into an agreement whereby the regulatory fined National Securities Corporation (NSC) while alleging that in 2013, NSC acted as the exclusive placement agent for two private placements of its parent company, National Holdings Corporation (National Holdings). The FINRA rules require that offerings of…
Why the Investing Public Falsely Believes Advisors Are Fiduciaries
The investor advocacy bar association PIABA (the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association) has recently issued a report called “Major Investor Losses Due to Conflicted Advice: Brokerage Industry Advertising Creates the Illusion of Fiduciary Duty.” The PIABA report argues that the brokerage industry uses false advertising to convey to investors that…
Tapes Show That UBS Executives Forced UBS Brokers to Sell High Risk Bond Funds
As our firm has written about on numerous occasions, our firm is currently representing investors who purchased the UBS Puerto Rico closed-end-bond funds and other Puerto Rico municipal debt. The allegations our firm has brought on behalf of clients focuses on UBS’ sales tactics and recommendations to its customers to…
Wedbush Securities Regulatory Actions Explored Part III
This post continues our examination of the numerous regulatory actions against Wedbush Securities, Inc. (Wedbush) for its failure to supervise the activities of its employees and the recent National Adjudicatory Council (NAC) decision affirming the FINRA hearing decision. What were the failures to report that were claimed by FINRA? In…