James Booth Being Investigated For Taking Money From Clients – Investor Recovery

shutterstock_24531604-200x300The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that advisor James Booth (Booth) has taken funds from clients and engaged in certain business activities not approved by his brokerage firm.  Booth, formerly registered with LPL Financial, LLC (LPL Financial) out of Norwalk, Connecticut has left LPL Financial and is under investigation by securities regulators.  In addition, Booth disclosed at least four customer complaints.

Our firm has been contacted by Booth clients who have been informed that certain funds of clients that they believed were invested with Booth could no longer be located.  Upon information and belief, investors have been asked to write out checks to Insurance Trends to invest with Booth and now these funds cannot be located.  If you have had this experience with Booth we encourage you to contact our firm for a free consultation.

Booth’s CRD disclosures state that Booth has an outside business activity called Booth Financial Associates and John M Glover Agency.

Our law firm has significant experience bringing cases on behalf of defrauded victims when their advisors engage in receiving loans from clients or selling fraudulent securities sales.  Booth’s activities in the sale of unapproved investment products – is a practice known in the industry as “selling away” – a serious violation of the securities laws.  In the industry the term selling away refers to when a financial advisor solicits investments in companies, promissory notes, or other securities that are not pre-approved by the broker’s affiliated firm.  Sometimes those investments have some legitimacy but often times these types of investments can end up being Ponzi schemes or the advisor can be engaging in the conversion of funds.

When advisors convert or misappropriate funds they often create businesses or other vehicles to serve as a cover for the theft of funds.  However, federal securities laws and the FINRA rules require firms to monitor and supervise its employees in order to detect and prevent brokers from offering investments in this fashion.  In order to properly supervise their brokers each firm is required to have procedures in order to monitor the activities of each advisor’s activities and interaction with the public.  Selling away misconduct often occurs where brokerage firms either fail to put in place a reasonable supervisory system or fail to actually implement that system.  Supervisory failures allow brokers to engage in unsupervised misconduct that can include all manner improper conduct including selling away.

In cases of selling away the investor is unaware that the advisor’s investments are improper.  In many of these cases the investor will not learn that the broker’s activities were wrongful until after the investment scheme is publicized, the broker is fired or charged by law enforcement, or stops returning client calls altogether.

Booth entered the securities industry in 1989.  From December 2005 until February 2018 Booth was registered with Invest Financial Corporation.  From February 2018 until June 2019 Booth was registered with LPL Financial out of the firm’s Norwalk, Connecticut office location.

Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation. Investors may be able recover their losses through securities arbitration.  The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are experienced in representing investors in cases of selling away and brokerage firms failure to supervise their representatives.  Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.

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