Securities Lawyers Blog
The securities attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating claims against Coastal Equities, Inc. (Coastal Equities) broker Andrew Pravlik (Pravlik). According to BrokerCheck records, Pravlik has been subject to a regulatory matter in which the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned Pravlik for various violations of the securities laws. In 2009, Pravlik falsely labeled 30 redemption requests as Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) when he entered them into the firm’s mutual fund system. By doing so, he prevented a deferred sales charge that would have applied to the redemptions, and falsified the firms records. In May 2010, Pravlik was fined $5,000 and suspended for 90 days.
In addition, Pravlik also been subject to two customer complaints concerning unsuitable risky investments, one of which is still pending
In October 2017, customers alleged that Pravlik placed them in unsuitable investments that did not match with their investment portfolio. The customer has requested damages of $175,000. This dispute is still pending.
In September 2013, a customer alleged that Pravlik placed the customer in high-risk variable annuities which were unsuitable to the customer’s investment portfolio.
Pravlik has also been discharged from two firms of employment. In February 2009 Pravlik was discharged from Hefren-Tilotson, Inc. for failing to comply with industry standards. In November 2017, Pravlik was discharged from Prospera Financial Services for violating the firm policy to send written correspondence.
Brokers have a responsibility treat investors fairly which includes obligations such as making only suitable investments for the client. In order to make a suitable recommendation the broker must meet certain requirements. First, there must be reasonable basis for the recommendation the product or security based upon the broker’s investigation and due diligence into the investment’s properties including its benefits, risks, tax consequences, and other relevant factors. Second, the broker then must match the investment as being appropriate for the customer’s specific investment needs and objectives such as the client’s retirement status, long or short term goals, age, disability, income needs, or any other relevant factor.
In addition, the number of disclosures with respect to Pravlik is high relative to his peers. According to newsources, only about 7.3% of financial advisors have any type of disclosure event on their records among brokers employed from 2005 to 2015. Brokers must publicly disclose reportable events on their CRD customer complaints, IRS tax liens, judgments, investigations, and even criminal matters. However, studies have found that there are fraud hotspots such as certain parts of California, New York or Florida, where the rates of disclosure can reach 18% or higher. Moreover, according to the New York Times, BrokerCheck may be becoming increasing inaccurate and understate broker misconduct as studies have shown that 96.9% of broker requests to clean their records of complaints are granted.
Pravlik has been in the securities industry for 19 years and has been registered with Coastal Equities since 2017. From 2011 to 2017, Pravlik was registered with Prospera Financial Services, Inc. From 1996 to 2009, he was registered with Hefren-Tillotson, Inc.
Investors who have suffered losses may be able recover their losses through securities arbitration. The investment 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.