Securities Lawyers Blog
According to BrokerCheck records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) broker Gregory Bodkin (Bodkin), currently associated with Revere Securities LLC / Mcg Securities LLC / IBN Financial Services, INC., has been subject to at least 4 disclosable events. These events include 4 customer complaints. Several of those complaints against Bodkin concern allegations of high frequency trading activity also referred to as churning or excessive trading among other securities laws violations.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $1,355,156.98 on February 16, 2022.
Fraud, churning, unauthorized trading, excessive trading/commissions, breach of fiduciary duty, unsuitable recommendations, breach of contract, negligence, unjust enrichment, and failure to supervise. No specific dates of alleged activity are provided, due to the numerous clients contained in the claim.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $67,000.00 on February 15, 2022.
Failure to supervise, breach of fiduciary duty, unsuitability, breach of contract, negligence, and unjust enrichment. Alleged activity occurred between June 2015 and August 2017.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $2,500,000.00 on February 01, 2022.
Breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligence, and negligent supervision. Dates of alleged activity began in 2013 and and end date is not indicated.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $745,360.01 on January 12, 2022.
Unsuitable recommendations, negligence, misrepresentations and material omissions of fact, churning, and failure to supervise. Period of alleged activity is not specified in the claim, but assumed to be somewhere between July 2017 and March 2020.
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. Frequently, the broker flips the account entirely with different securities. The only purpose of this kind of investment in the client’s account is to generate commissions, which benefit the broker, but not the investor. Churning is regarded as a specific category of securities fraud. Excessive trading of securities, broker manipulation of the account, and the intent to deceive the investor for illicit commissions form the basis of the claim. 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.
According to newsources, a study revealed that 7.3% of financial advisors had a customer complaint on their record when records from 2005 to 2015 were examined. Brokers must publicly disclose reportable events on their BrokerCheck reports that include customer complaints, IRS tax liens, judgments, investigations, terminations, and criminal cases. In addition, research has shown a disturbing pattern with troublesome brokers where brokers with high numbers of customer complaints are not kicked out of the industry but instead these brokers are sifted to lower quality brokerage firms with loose hiring practices and higher rates of customer complaints. These lower quality firms may average brokers with five times as many complaints as the industry average.
Bodkin entered the securities industry in 2005. Bodkin has been registered as a Broker with Revere Securities LLC since 2023, with Mcg Securities LLC since 2023. and with IBN Financial Services, INC. since 2024.
Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation. At Gana Weinstein LLP, our attorneys are experienced representing investors who have suffered securities losses due to the mishandling of their accounts. Claims may be brought in securities arbitration before FINRA. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.