Articles Posted in Reg BI

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker David Morris (Morris), previously associated with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one regulatory event, alleging that Morris recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on January 11, 2024.

Respondent Morris failed to comply with an arbitration award or settlement agreement or to satisfactorily respond to a FINRA request to provide information concerning the status of compliance.

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker William Godfrey (Godfrey), previously associated with Oneamerica Securities, INC., has at least one disclosable event. These events include one regulatory event, alleging that Godfrey recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on December 05, 2023.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Godfrey consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to appear for on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into a matter that originated after his member firm filed a Form U5 reporting that he was terminated as a result of submitting variable annuity applications with materially inaccurate information on exchange disclosure form(s).

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Randy Schild (Schild), currently associated with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one customer complaint, alleging that Schild recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on December 11, 2023.

Customer alleges that the registered representative did not act in the customers best interest regarding excessive commisions charged from July 2022-June 2023.

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Matthew Scanlon (Scanlon), currently associated with Independent Financial Group, LLC, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one customer complaint, alleging that Scanlon recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $230,000.00 on January 22, 2024.

Arque Capital and Matthew Scanlon conduct breached its fiduciary duty to the Claimants by making material misrepresentations and omissions and selling highly speculative unsuitable investments in large concentrations.

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Steven Hirata (Hirata), previously associated with PFS Investments INC., has at least one disclosable event. These events include one regulatory event, alleging that Hirata recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on December 26, 2023.

Respondent Hirata failed to comply with an arbitration award or settlement agreement or to satisfactorily respond to a FINRA request to provide information concerning the status of compliance.

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Ramon Almonte (Almonte), previously associated with UBS Financial Services INC., has at least one disclosable event. These events include one customer complaint, alleging that Almonte recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $250,000.00 on November 28, 2023.

Allegations as stated by Claimant:         Time frame: Unspecified\, \, Allegations: Claimants allege that the recommendation to invest in and hold Puerto Rico closed-end funds was unsuitable and that their UBS account was over-concentrated in these investments. They also allege that the risks of investing in and concentrating in PR investments were misrepresented.

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Samuel Girgiss (Girgiss), previously associated with Spartan Capital Securities, LLC, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one regulatory event, alleging that Girgiss recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on May 15, 2024.

Respondent Girgiss failed to respond to FINRA requests for information.

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Gabriel Edelman (Edelman), previously associated with Spartan Capital Securities, LLC, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one regulatory event, alleging that Edelman recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on May 30, 2024.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (‘Commission’) deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted against Gabriel Edelman (‘Respondent’). In anticipation of the institution of these proceedings, Respondent has submitted an Offer of Settlement (the ‘Offer’) which the Commission has determined to accept. The Commission finds that on April 10, 2024, a judgment was issued against Respondent, permanently enjoining him from future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, in the civil action entitled SEC v. Gabriel Edelman, et al., 22 Civ. 7892 (S.D.N.Y.). The Commission’s complaint alleges that from approximately February 2017 to May 2021, Respondent, through entities that he controlled, fraudulently offered and sold securities using false and misleading statements to four investors, raising a total of approximately $4.3 million. The Commission further alleges that Respondent falsely told investors their funds would be invested in digital assets, but in fact, he only invested a small portion of investor funds in digital assets, and instead used a significant amount of investor funds for personal expenses.

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Nathaniel Adams (Adams), previously associated with Aag Capital, Inc, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one regulatory event, alleging that Adams recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on June 18, 2024.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Adams consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he improperly emailed an unencrypted spreadsheet containing the nonpublic personal information of approximately 2,300 customers to a family member’s email account and then, from that account, he emailed the spreadsheet to the email account of a contact at his prospective new firm. The findings stated that Adams sent these emails without his member firm’s or customers’ consent and in contravention of the firm’s procedures. After Adams resigned, the firm discovered the email and attached spreadsheet that contained customers’ nonpublic personal information such as the names, addresses, social security numbers and birthdates, and informed Adam’s new firm of its discovery. The nonpublic personal customer information was deleted following reviews of all devices and email accounts.

According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Jason Kurtz (Kurtz), previously associated with U.S. Bancorp Investments, INC., has at least 2 disclosable events. These events include 2 regulatory events, alleging that Kurtz recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on April 01, 2024.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Kurtz consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to produce information and documents requested by FINRA related to a matter that originated from the submission of a Form U5 by his member firm disclosing that he was discharged for a violation of code of ethics and business conduct related to misuse of a personal bank account.

Contact Information