Securities Lawyers Blog
Former Sandlapper Securities, LLC (Sandlapper) and Independent Financial Group, LLC (Independent Financial) broker Kyusun “Kenny” Kim (Kim) has been subject to at least 23 customer complaints and one regulatory action. According to a BrokerCheck report many of the customer complaints concern alternative investments and direct participation products (DPPs) such as non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), oil & gas programs, annuities, and equipment leasing programs. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP have extensive experience handling investor losses caused by these types of products.
In June 2018 FINRA barred Kim from the securities industry after making findings of unsuitable recommendations to numerous senior customers to concentrate their retirement assets and liquid net worth in speculative and illiquid securities. FINRA found that Kim recommended customers to invest in speculative and illiquid investments that were inconsistent with the customers’ moderate or conservative investment objectives and risk tolerances. FINRA found that these recommendations caused Kim’s customers to have an undue concentration of the customers’ retirement assets and liquid net worth in speculative and illiquid investments. FINRA also found that Kim falsified client information on important forms by entering inaccurate and inflated net worth, liquid net worth, and investment experience figures for certain customers so that they appeared eligible to purchase speculative investments.