Securities Lawyers Blog
The securities attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating previously registered broker Laurence Greene (Greene). According to BrokerCheck Records held by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Greene has been subject to two pending customer disputes concerning unsuitable investments.
Most recently, in May 2018, a customer alleged that Greene placed the customer’s funds into risk oil and gas securities which were unsuitable to to the customer’s investment objectives. In addition, the customer alleges churning of the account. This dispute is currently still pending.
In November 2017, a customer alleged that during 2013, Greene placed the customer in unsuitable investments, churned the account, breached fiduciary duty and excessively traded the accounts. The customer has requested $375,000 in damages. This dispute is currently still pending.
Our firm handles claims and is also investigating securities claims against brokerage firms over sales practices related to the recommendations of oil & gas and commodities products such as exchange traded notes (ETNs), structured notes, private placements, master limited partnerships (MLPs), leveraged ETFs, mutual funds, and individual stocks.
Before recommending investments in oil and gas and commodities related investments, brokers and advisors must ensure that the investment is appropriate for the investor and conduct due diligence on the company in order to understand the risks and prospects of the company. Oil and gas and commodities related investments have been recommended by brokers under the assumption that commodities prices would continue to go up. However, brokers who sell oil and gas and commodities products are obligated to understand the risks of these investments and convey them to clients.
When brokers engage in excessive trading, sometimes referred to as churning, the broker will typical trade in and out of securities, sometimes even the same stock, many times over a short period of time. Often times the account will completely “turnover” every month with different securities. This type of investment trading activity in the client’s account serves no reasonable purpose for the investor and is engaged in only to profit the broker through the generation of commissions created by the trades. Churning is considered a species of securities fraud. The elements of the claim are excessive transactions of securities, broker control over the account, and intent to defraud the investor by obtaining unlawful commissions. 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.
Greene entered the securities industry in 1980 and has been registered with Herbert J. Sims & Co. Inc. from June 2002 to January 2018. From April 2002 to June 2002, Greene was registered with Ryan, Beck & Co, L.L.C. From April 1999 to May 2002, Greene was registered with Gruntal & Co., L.L.C. From October 1989 to April 1999, Greene was registered with A.F. Best Securities, Inc. Greene is currently not registered with any firm.
Investors who have suffered losses may be able recover their losses through securities arbitration. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are experienced in representing investors in cases of security fraud and brokerage firms failure to supervise their representatives. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover