Selling Away

There are Recent Customer Complaints with Broker John Matson in Firm LPL Financial LLC

June 18, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker John Matson (Matson) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Matson was employed by LPL Financial LLC at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Matson’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $948,212.71 on April 09, 2025.

Customer seeks to rescind a settlement agreement she entered in connection with her prior complaint concerning two promissory notes that a (previously) registered representative sold to her in February 2019, away from the firm. This complaint was disclosed on 2/21/2023 and settled on 1/10/2024 (Occurrence ID 2258299), however Claimant is attempting to seek further compensation from the allegations.

There are Recent Customer Complaints with Broker Dan Droeg in Firm United Planners’ Financial Services of America A Limited Partner

June 4, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Dan Droeg (Droeg) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Droeg was employed by United Planners’ Financial Services of America A Limited Partner at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Droeg’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $980,000.00 on February 06, 2024.

Misappropriation of client funds. Alleged activity occurred July 2009 to April 2016.

There are Recent Customer Complaints with Broker Joey Miller in Firm Dai Securities, LLC

May 28, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Joey Miller (Miller) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Miller was employed by Dai Securities, LLC at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Miller’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $329,000.00 on March 11, 2024.

Client alleges unsuitable recommendations 2018 and 2019.

There are Recent Customer Complaints with Broker Claud Haws in Firm Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments

May 28, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Claud Haws (Haws) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Haws was employed by Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Haws’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $4,472,093.00 on March 12, 2024.

Client alleges sales practice violation in connection with investment in private investment vehicle.

Broker Javier Martin Riva in Bulltick, LLC Firm Has Customer Complaint

May 18, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Javier Martin Riva (Martin Riva) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Martin Riva was employed by Bulltick, LLC at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Martin Riva’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $20,000,000.00 on March 20, 2025.

The allegations in this civil complaint were the subject of a prior U4 filing submitted on February 5, 2024 (filing ID 63632267), and amended on April 10, 2024 (filing ID 64281514), regarding a civil complaint originally filed in New York state court in January 2024. That prior, original complaint was recently dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. The civil complaint that is the subject of this U4 amended filing is a refiled complaint, but now in Florida state court. As was described to FINRA staff in the prior U4 filings, Plaintiffs are private investment vehicles associated with a family office of a high-net-worth family and allege that they lost money investing a private special vehicle that invested in convertible notes issued by Theia International group LLC (‘Theia’) a technology company. Plaintiffs invested a total of $20 million in January 2021. The complaint alleges that Theia, the representative and others made misrepresentations in connection with the investments and that Theia, along with the representative and others, misappropriated the plaintiff’s funds.

Broker Hector Villaescusa in Bulltick, LLC Firm Has Customer Complaint

May 18, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Hector Villaescusa (Villaescusa) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Villaescusa was employed by Bulltick, LLC at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Villaescusa’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $20,000,000.00 on March 20, 2025.

The allegations in this civil complaint were the subject of a prior U4 filing submitted on February 5, 2024 (filing ID 63634608), and amended on April 10, 2024 (filing ID 64281386), regarding a civil complaint originally filed in New York state court in January 2024. That prior, original complaint was recently dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. The civil complaint that is the subject of this U4 amended filing is a refiled complaint, but now in Florida state court. As was described to FINRA staff in the prior U4 filings, Plaintiffs are private investment vehicles associated with a family office of a high-net-worth family and allege that they lost money investing a private special vehicle that invested in convertible notes issued by Theia International group LLC (‘Theia’) a technology company. Plaintiffs invested a total of $20 million in January 2021. The complaint alleges that Theia, the representative and others made misrepresentations in connection with the investments and that Theia, along with the representative and others, misappropriated the plaintiff’s funds.

There are Recent Customer Complaints with Broker Michael Lickiss in Firm Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments

May 15, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Michael Lickiss (Lickiss) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Lickiss was employed by Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Lickiss’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint on April 04, 2025.

Failure to Supervise, Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Negligence in the sale of promissory notes.

Broker Gregory Whelan in Kovack Securities INC. Firm Has Customer Complaint

May 4, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Gregory Whelan (Whelan) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Whelan was employed by Kovack Securities INC. at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Whelan’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $3,408,797.00 on May 14, 2024.

The customer alleges unsuitable investments, misrepresentations, and the use of personal email to engage in selling away.

Broker Keith Harper in Osaic Wealth, INC. Firm Has Customer Complaint

May 2, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Keith Harper (Harper) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Harper was employed by Osaic Wealth, INC. at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Harper’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $154,000.00 on May 23, 2024.

Allege that representative encouraged the investment in a private security that turned out to be fraudulent/a ponzi scheme. Clients’ initial investment was in December 2015 in the amount of $25,000. Thereafter, they made two other investments–one in June 2016 for $20,000 and one in November 2021 for $25,000.

Broker Kurt Berry in Vanderbilt Securities, LLC Firm Has Customer Complaint

April 28, 2025 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that Broker Kurt Berry (Berry) has been accused by investors of engaging in fraudulent misappropriation of their funds. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it appears that Berry was employed by Vanderbilt Securities, LLC at the time of the activity. If you have been a victim of Berry’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on June 17, 2024.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Berry consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he participated in private securities transactions involving customers without providing prior written notice to his member firms or receiving approval from them. The findings stated that Berry’s customers invested $517,410 in oil and gas wells through a series of securities offerings. These customers were all either pre-existing clients or family members of existing clients of Berry’s advisory firm. Berry met with and made each customer aware of the oil and gas securities offerings, discussed the investments with each customer, and introduced each customer to a colleague who had visited some of the oil and gas wells to conduct due diligence. For each of the customers, Berry received $2,000, totaling $8,000.