Securities Lawyers Blog
According to BrokerCheck records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) advisor William Glaser (Glaser), in September 2017, was accused by FINRA of failing to cooperate in an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Glaser’s termination by National Panning Corporation (National Planning). National Planning terminated Glaser in June 2017 after alleging it had received an arbitration claim alleging that Glaser had solicited a private investment away from the firm. Glaser operated his securities business through a dba called Legacy Wealth Advisors, Inc.
The private investments Glaser was participating appear to be connected to the arrest of Paul Creager (Creager) in August 2017. Creager has been indicted on two felony counts of wire fraud. According to the indictment Creager financed his development company through promissory notes and by selling interests in his companies to investors. The indictment claims that Creager misled investors by failing to disclose that Financial & Marketing Solutions LLC had lent him more than $3.2 million and had a priority secured position in his real estate developments. It appears that some of the investors were brought to Creager through Glaser.
The providing of loans or selling of notes and other investments outside of a brokerage firm constitutes impermissible private securities transactions – a practice known in the industry as “selling away”.
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. However, even though when these incidents occur the brokerage firm claims ignorance of their advisor’s activities the firm is obligated under the FINRA rules to properly 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.
Glaser entered the securities industry in 1984. From December 2007 until July 2017 Glaser was associated with National Planning out of the firm’s St. Albans Road, Missouri office location.
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 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.