The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in an acceptance, waiver, and consent action (AWC), sanctioned brokerage firm Cantella & Co., Inc. (Cantella) over allegations that from approximately January 2006, to September 2011, the firm charged customers excessive commissions on approximately 1,270 equity transactions and 99 options transactions. FINRA also found…
Your brokerage firm reviews customer accounts for misconduct and what does it find; bizarre and unreasonable trading activity. Maybe dozens of trades are being made every month or an account previously invested in plain vanilla mutual funds is now loaded up with speculative penny stocks and private placements. Whatever the…
Recently, FINRA and the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an alert to warn investors that some low-priced “penny” stocks are being aggressively promoted to engage in investment fraud schemes. In many cases the stocks of dormant shell companies, businesses with nominal business operations, are susceptible to market…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has sanctioned brokerage firm Feltl & Company (Feltl) and fined the firm $1,000,000 concerning allegations that the firm, between January 2008, and February 2012. failed to comply with the suitability, disclosure, and record-keeping requirements for broker-dealers who engage in penny stock business. FINRA alleged…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has sanctioned broker Douglas Cmelik(Cmelik) concerning allegations that Cmelik improperly marked order tickets for penny stock purchases as “unsolicited” when the purchases were solicited. Cmelik’s conduct allegedly violated NASD Conduct Rule 3110 and FINRA Rule 2010. Penny stocks are securities that carry significant investment…
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…
On March 10, 2014, Larry Steven Werbel submitted a Letter of Acceptance, agreeing to accept the sanctions handed down by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for alleged violations relating to the sale of penny stocks during his tenure at LPL Financial, LLC. Larry Werbel entered the securities industry in…
Rockwell Global Capital LLC (Rockwell) brokers Robert E. Lee Jr. (Robert Lee), Douglas Guarino (Guarino), and Lawrence Lee (Lee) have been the subject of at least 29 combined customer complaints. All three brokers have been accused by clients of churning their accounts and making unsuitable investment recommendations. Robert Lee first…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned brokerage firm Royal Securities Company (Royal Securities) concerning allegations Royal lacked adequate supervision and controls in several areas. FINRA alleged that Royal Securities failed to properly supervise two of its registered representatives, one of which utilized a unitary investment strategy for virtually all…
Broker Thomas C. Oakes (Oakes) has been suspended and fined by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) concerning allegations from 2005 through May 2008, Oakes had engaged in unsuitable short term trading of low priced and/or speculative securities in the accounts of at least three customers causing substantial losses. Oakes…