Securities Lawyers Blog
The investment attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating claims against broker Lyle Boudreaux (Boudreaux). According to BrokerCheck records, Boudreaux has received three customer complaints. Additionally, Boudreaux was terminated from Merrill Lynch in 2012.
In October 2017, a customer allegedly suffered losses in an advisory account due to an allegedly inappropriate investment.
In April 2017, a customer alleged breach of contract, violation of state securities laws, and negligence. The customer is seeking $100,000 in this pending dispute.
In January 2017, a customer allegedly suffered losses as a result of an exchange-traded fund position in an advisory account. This dispute settled for $80,000.
A brokerage firm owes a duty to all of its customers to properly monitor and supervise its employees. The duty to supervise is a critical component of the securities regulatory scheme. Regulatory authorities such as the SEC and FINRA have steadily heightened the supervisory obligations of brokerage firms in recent years. Supervisors have an obligation to respond vigorously to indications of irregularity, often times referred to as “red flags.” A supervisor cannot ignore or disregard red flags and must act decisively to detect and prevent improper activity.
The number of complaints against Devlin are unusual compared 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.
Boudreaux has been in the securities industry for 8 years and has been registered with 8 firms including Sunbelt Securities, Merrill Lynch, Coastal Securities, Fixed Income Securities, Sterne, Agee & Leach, PFS Investments, Dean Witter Reynolds and most recently, Independent Financial Group.
At Gana Weinstein LLP, our attorneys are experienced representing investors who have suffered securities losses due to the mishandling of their accounts. Claims may be brought in securities arbitration before FINRA. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.