The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has sanctioned Polar Investment Counsel, Inc. (Polar Investment) concerning allegations from 2011 and 2012, a firm advisor of Polar recommended various low-priced securities (penny stocks) received a total of 14 purchase orders for those securities. FINRA alleged that the representative marked eight of the…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has determined that Charles Schwab & Co. (Charles Schwab) violated the self-regulatory organization’s rules by adding waiver languages to agreements that prohibited customers from participating in any class action cases against the firm. Schwab settled the claims and was fined of $500,000. The firm…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently fined Colorado Financial Service Corporation (Colorado Financial) concerning allegations that the firm violated NASD Rule 3010, and FINRA Rule 2010, among other violations, by failing to establish, maintain, and enforce supervisory procedures reasonably designed to ensure compliance with the securities rules pertaining to…
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities requested that Securities America Inc. (Securities America) provide information concerning customer purchases of non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) securities by Pennsylvania residents since 2007. This information was provided by an annual report of Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. (Ladenburg Thalmann), the company…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned Centaurus Financial, Inc., (Centaurus) concerning allegations that Centaurus failed to supervise the business activities of five representative in the dissemination of communications concerning the risks of certain private placements. FINRA fined the firm $25,000 Centaurus became a FINRA member firm in 1993 and…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined Barclays Capital Inc. (Barclays) $3.75 million for systemic failures relating to the failure to preserve electronic records, emails, and instant messages in the manner required for a period of at least 10 years. The retention of electronic correspondence and records is critical for…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ordered J.P. Turner & Company, L.L.C. (JP Turner) to pay $707,559 in restitution to 84 customers for sales of unsuitable leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (Non-Traditional ETFs) and for excessive mutual fund switches. The current fine and is just one of several sanctions that…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has brought a complaint against financial advisor Brian H. Brunhaver (Brunhaver) formerly of LPL Financial, LLC (LPL) concerning allegations Brunhaver used an unauthorized e-mail account for communications related to his securities business and committed securities fraud in making oral and written misrepresentations to customers…
Most investors know that their financial advisor cannot misrepresent the risks and rewards of investments. However, many investors do not realize that all brokers have an obligation to deal fairly with investors by only recommending suitable investments or investment strategies. All sales efforts are judged by the ethical standards of…
As we have reported, claims of churning, excessive trading, and failure to supervise have plagued J.P. Turner & Company, L.L.C. (JP Turner) brokers, among other misconduct. Recently, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) imposed sanctions against Herman Mannings (Mannings), a JP Turner supervisor, concerning allegations that from February 2009, through…