According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Brian Bradley (Bradley), currently associated with MML Investors Services, LLC, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one customer complaint, alleging that Bradley recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $43,792.00 on December 11, 2024.
The complainant alleges that the fixed annuity that was sold to her in 2019, which was funded by a securities account, was unsuitable and that she was taken advantage of.
Brokers must, under securities laws, act in their clients’ best interests and recommend only suitable investments. The SEC has also implemented “Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI)“, which, according to the SEC, elevates the brokerdealer standard of conduct beyond current suitability obligations, requiring them to act in the best interest of retail customers when recommending any securities transaction or investment strategy. Regulation Best Interest and the fiduciary standard for investment advisers are drawn from key fiduciary principles that include an obligation to act in the retail investor’s best interest and not to place their own interests ahead of the investor’s interest.
Brokers are required to gather and assess adequate information about a retail investor to reasonably determine that their account recommendations align with the investor’s best interests. Recommendations cannot be based on materially inaccurate or incomplete information. The cost of the recommendation and information about the investor are always part of material information. Types of costs that must be considered including account fees, commissions and transaction costs, tax considerations, as well as indirect costs.
In addition to obligation to understand the customer the broker must also investigate the product being sold. FINRA firms have an obligation to conduct a reasonable investigation of the issuer and the securities they recommend in offerings. A brokerage firm has a special relationship with a customer from the fact that in recommending the security, the broker represents to the customer that a reasonable investigation has been made. Accordingly, a brokerage firm may not rely blindly upon the issuer for information concerning a company in lieu of conducting its own reasonable investigation.
Another protective measure for investors is to mandate broker discloses. Brokers must publicly disclose reportable events on their BrokerCheck reports that include customer complaints, IRS tax liens, judgments, investigations, terminations, and even criminal matters. FINRA has recognized that recent studies offer evidence showing that brokers with a past history of regulatory and customer complaint issues are more likely to have such issues in the future. The Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) at FINRA released a study demonstrating that past disciplinary and disclosure events can indicate the likelihood of future similar events. The OCE study showed that past disclosure events, including regulatory actions, customer arbitrations and litigations of brokers, have significant power to predict future investor harm. The data shows that where a member firm on-boards brokers with a significant history of misconduct there is a high likelihood that the broker will continue to engage in similar behavior.
Bradley entered the securities industry in 2001. Bradley has been registered as a Broker with MML Investors Services, LLC since 2009.
Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation. 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.