According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Michael Whitaker (Whitaker), currently associated with Newbridge Securities Corporation, has at least 6 disclosable events. These events include 6 customer complaints, alleging that Whitaker recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $35,000.00 on December 09, 2024.
Breach of fiduciary duty and negligence.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on May 21, 2024.
Breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, failure to supervise, negligence and Reg BI.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $40,000.00 on April 18, 2024.
Breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and Reg BI.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $400,000.00 on February 23, 2024.
Breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent supervision.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $85,000.00 on February 05, 2024.
Breach of contract, common law fraud and negligence.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $80,000.00 on September 28, 2023.
Negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent supervision.
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 strengthens the brokerdealer standard of conduct beyond existing suitability obligations, making it mandatory for brokerdealers to act in a retail customer’s best interest when recommending any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities. 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. Every recommendation’s cost and investor details 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. So, rather than depending solely on the issuer for company information, a brokerage firm should conduct its own reasonable investigation.
Another protective measure is to require broker discloses. Brokers are required by FINRA to reveal the events such as customer complaints, IRS tax liens, judgments, investigations, terminations, and even criminal matters on their public BrokerCheck reports. 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 be used to anticipate future ones. 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.
Whitaker entered the securities industry in 1987. Whitaker has been registered as a Broker with Newbridge Securities Corporation 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.