Securities Lawyers Blog
According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker James Mariani (Mariani), previously associated with Aegis Capital Corp., has at least 6 disclosable events. These events include 4 customer complaints, 2 tax liens, alleging that Mariani recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on February 03, 2025.
Respondent Mariani failed to comply with an arbitration award or settlement agreement or to satisfactorily respond to a FINRA request to provide information concerning the status of compliance.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on January 31, 2025.
Respondent Mariani failed to comply with an arbitration award or settlement agreement or to satisfactorily respond to a FINRA request to provide information concerning the status of compliance.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on December 08, 2023.
Time frame: Unspecified. Claimant alleges unsuitable investments, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $1,500,000.00 on October 10, 2023.
Time frame: 2010 – present. Claimants allege unsuitable investments, over-concentration; failure to act in the best interest of the claimants, misrepresentation and omissions, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and negligence.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $500,000.00 on June 27, 2023.
Time frame: September 2017 – Present. Claimants allege unsuitable investments, omission of material facts.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a award / judgment customer complaint with a damage request of $1,000,000.00 on June 26, 2023.
Mariani was named in a customer complaint that asserted the following causes of action: sale of unsuitable securities; violation of Section 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; violation of Section 12 of the Securities Act of 1933; breach of fiduciary duty; negligent failure to supervise; and common law fraud.
Under the securities laws brokers are obligated to act in their clients’ best interests and provide only suitable recommendations for investments to the client. In addition, the SEC has promulgated ‘Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI)‘ which according to the SEC enhanced the broker-dealer standard of conduct beyond existing suitability obligations and requires broker-dealers to act in the best interest of a retail customer when making a recommendation of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities. Regulation Best Interest and the fiduciary standard for investment advisers are drawn from key fiduciary principles that include an obligation to act in the retail investor’s best interest and not to place their own interests ahead of the investor’s interest.
Brokers have an obligation to first obtain and evaluate sufficient information about a retail investor to form a reasonable basis to believe the account recommendations are in the retail investor’s best interest. Recommendations cannot be based on materially inaccurate or incomplete information. Data on the investor and the expense of the advice are consistently part of material information. Types of costs that must be considered including account fees, commissions and transaction costs, tax considerations, as well as indirect costs.
In addition to obligation to understand the customer the broker must also investigate the product being sold. FINRA firms have an obligation to conduct a reasonable investigation of the issuer and the securities they recommend in offerings. A brokerage firm has a special relationship with a customer from the fact that in recommending the security, the broker represents to the customer that a reasonable investigation has been made. So, rather than depending solely on the issuer for company information, a brokerage firm should conduct its own reasonable investigation.
Another protective measure is to require broker discloses. Brokers are required to reveal important events, such as customer complaints, IRS tax liens, judgments, investigations, terminations, and even criminal matters, publicly on their BrokerCheck reports. FINRA has recognized that recent research shows past regulatory and customer complaint issues can indicate future problems for brokers. FINRA’s Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) published a study showing the predictability of disciplinary and disclosure events based on past similar events. The OCE study showed that past disclosure events, including regulatory actions, customer arbitrations and litigations of brokers, have significant power to predict future investor harm. The data shows that where a member firm on-boards brokers with a significant history of misconduct there is a high likelihood that the broker will continue to engage in similar behavior.
Mariani has been in the securities industry for more than 23 years. Mariani has been registered as a Broker with Aegis Capital Corp. since 2017.
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.