The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently sanctioned brokerage firm Felt & Company (Felt) alleging that between January 2009, and September 2012, Felt failed to establish and supervisory system that was reasonably designed to ensure that sales leveraged or inverse exchange-traded funds (Non-Traditional ETFs) complied with all applicable securities laws.…
Articles Posted in securities attorney
FINRA Sanctions Former LPL Financial Broker Marc Baldinger Over Private CMO I/O Strip Sales
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently sanctioned former LPL Financial LLC (LPL) broker Marc Baldinger (Baldinger) concerning allegations that between August 2010 and November 2012, Baldinger participated in private securities transactions (a/k/a “selling away”) without prior approval of LPL. In addition, FINRA alleged that in connection with these private…
FINRA Brings Action Against Randor Research, William Scholander, and Talman Harris
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently brought a complaint against brokerage firm Randor Research & Trading Company (Randor) and registered representatives William Scholander (Scholander) and Talman Harris (Harris) alleging that between February 2011, through March 2013, Radnor displayed a pattern of disregard of its supervisory obligations concerning reporting, disclosure,…
FINRA Bars Broker Michael Evangelista Over Real Estate Securities Sales
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently barred broker Michael Evangelista (Evangelista) concerning allegations that between 2006 and 2011, Evangelista referred approximately six of his firm customers to invest in real estate securities issued by ABC Corp. (ABC), an entity that purportedly invested in real estate in Pennsylvania and neighboring…
FINRA Fines Sigma Financial Over Supervisory Failures Part I
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently sanctioned Sigma Financial Corporation (Sigma Financial) alleging from April 25, 2011, through June 24, 2012, supervisory deficiencies existed at Sigma in specific areas of Sigma’s supervisory systems and procedures including the firm’s supervision of registered representatives, the firm’s suitability processes and procedures, some…
FINRA Bars Broker Chase Casson For Failing to Respond to Inquiries Over Private Transactions
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently barred broker Chase Casson (Casson) alleging that Casson failed to provide documents and information to FINRA in response to demands made to investigate the broker’s activities. On various dates in August and September 2014, FINRA sent Casson a request for documents concerning allegations…
Overconcentrated in Oil and Gas Investments?
A strengthening dollar and increased global supply of oil has sent crude oil prices tumbling in the second half of 2014. Recently, crude futures for delivery in February 2015 fell to $52.69 a barrel, the lowest finish since April 2009. Some experts are saying that if production volume continues to…
Wedbush Securities Supervisory Failures Exposed in Numerous Regulatory Actions Part I
In a slew of regulatory actions, Wedbush Securities, Inc. (Wedbush) has the firm under fire for its failure to supervise the activities of its employees in various respects. These complaints were recently capped off with an affirmation by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) appeals body, the National Adjudicatory Council…
FINRA Fines 10 Brokerage Firms $43.5 Million For Conflicts of Interests in Toys “R” Us IPO
The merry go-round of Wall Street fraud continues. After the housing crisis where Wall Street sold terrible home loans to investors we’ve arrived back to dot.com era frauds of selling favorable research. Enter the recent fine imposed by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) that 10 of the largest brokerage…
Brokerage Firm Spotlight: Investor Claims of Churning Against Rockwell Global Capital
The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP is investigating Rockwell Global Capital LLC (Rockwell) after having filed a complaint on behalf of an investor. We have posted on several previous occasions that brokers at Rockwell have been alleged by dozens of investors in recent years of churning client accounts. In…