Our securities fraud attorneys are investigating customer complaints filed with The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against Dominic Tropiano (Tropiano) currently not associated with any broker-dealer. The complaints against Tropiano allege unsuitable investments, unauthorized trading, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty among other claims. Many of the complaints involve leveraged…
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a press release announcing securities fraud charges against a Florida based purported “investment adviser” Arthur F. Jacob (Jacob) and his firm, Innovative Business Solutions LLC (IBS), for allegedly deceiving clients over a period of at least five years. According to the SEC, the unregistered…
On May 5, 2015, the brokerage firm Cape Securities, Inc. (“Cape”) was fined $125,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to supervise its personnel, in effect allowing its brokers to recommend unsuitable investments and churn customer accounts. According to the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC),…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned (Case No. 2014038906201) brokerage firm BestVest Investments, Ltd. (BestVest) concerning allegations that from January 2012, through August 2014, BestVest failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system reasonably designed to monitor transactions in leveraged, inverse, and inverse leveraged exchange traded funds (Non-Traditional ETFs).…
The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating brokerage firms that placed investors in oil and gas related investments and who have suffered losses as a result. One company under investigation is Miller Energy Resources Inc. (Stock Symbol: MILL). According to a Wall Street Journal article, creditors of…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned (Case No. 2010025835701) broker E1 Asset Management, Inc. (E1 Asset) Ron Itin (Itin), and Ahsan Shaikh (Shaikh) concerning numerous irregularities and misconduct including allegations that between July 2008, and April 2012, including the failure to conduct reasonable supervisory reviews designed to detect and…
As long time readers of our blog know, this is not the first time we have alerted investors to the potential pitfalls to investing in equity indexed annuities. Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran an article concerning a probe being conducted by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) regarding sales incentives…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently sanctioned supervisor Gregory Bray (Bray) concerning allegations that Bray failed to adequately supervise the firm’s chief executive officer and compliance officer Matt Maberry (Maberry), who FINRA refers to by the initials “MM”, concerning sales of certain complex products and recommendations of Class A…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) entered into an agreement whereby the regulatory fined Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp. (BDFS) concerning allegations that between March 2009 and April 2012, BDFS failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system, including written procedures, that was reasonably designed to ensure that the firm’s…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned broker Daniel Grieco (Grieco) concerning allegations that Grieco made recommendations of non-traditional exchange-traded funds (Non-Traditional ETFs) to various customers without having reasonable grounds to believe his recommendations were suitable. Non-Traditional ETFs are behave drastically different and have different risk qualities from traditional ETFs.…