Forest Securities

FINRA Bars Former AXA Representative John P. Correnti

September 20, 2017 | by Staff Attorney

The investment lawyers of Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating the regulatory action brought by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against John P. Correnti (Correnti), working out of Cleveland, Ohio. Correnti allegedly failed to provide FINRA staff with information and documents related to an investigation into claims that Correnti engaged in undisclosed outside business activities. The failure to provide those documents and information to FINRA resulted in an automatic bar from the industry.

Correnti began his securities career in 2007. From 2007 until 2015, Correnti was associated with MVP Financial. He moved to Forest Securities in 2015 and was with them for less than a year. Finally, he moved to AXA Advisors where he was terminated in less than a year.

According to BrokerCheck records, Correnti was terminated by AXA Advisors in July 2016 “due to his apparent involvement in the possible market manipulation of a low price security.”

Illinois Secretary of State Brings Action to Ban James B. Markoski from Selling Securities in Illinois

December 27, 2014 | by Staff Attorney

On September 29, 2014, Jesse White, the Secretary of State for Illinois recently announced it set a hearing for November 6, 2014 to determine whether James B. Markoski should be banned from offering or selling securities in the State of Illinois.

According to the action, Mr. Markoski “has a storied history of securities fraud, having victimized at least eight customers during his employment at Merrill Lynch which resulted in millions in losses to his victims and for which Merrill Lynch paid restitution.” According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, Mr. Markoski was registered with Merrill Lynch from 1971 – 1991 and at least 6 customer complaints were lodged against Mr. Markoski during that time.

After Mr. Markoski was terminated from Merrill Lynch, he moved to David A. Noyes & Company, where at least one additional complaint was filed against him, according to Illinois, . Mr. Markoski worked at David A. Noyes until June 2010 when he moved to Birkelback Investment Securities, Inc. Mr. Markoski currently works at Forest Securities Inc. In total, nine customer complaints have already been brought against Mr. Markoski and his employers and more are expected after Illinois’ regulatory action.

Illinois Files Churning Complaint Against James Markoski

November 18, 2014 | by Staff Attorney

James Markoski (Markoski) recently had a complaint filed against him from the State of Illinois, Securities Department. According to the complaint Markoski has a history of churning accounts, or engaging in excessive trading that is designed to generate huge commissions at the expense of the customer.

Markoski’ entered the financial industry in the early 1970’s and until 1991, Markoski worked for Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. (Merrill). Thereafter, from September 1991, through June 2010, Markoski was a registered representative of David A Noyes & Company. From June 2010, through April 2012, Markoski worked for Birkelbach Investment Securities, Inc. Finally, Markoski currently is associated with Forest Securities, Inc. Markoski has been subject to 9 customer arbitrations throughout his career. Virtually all of the customer complaints involve claims of churning and excessive trading activity in the customer’s account. It is rare for a broker to have a complaint filed against them. It is even more rare for a broker to have more than 2 complaints filed against them.

The Illinois Secretary of State alleged that Markoski alleged that Markoski has a penchant for targeting widows and senior women to engage in his fraudulent churning conduct. In one of the alleged churning instances, Markoski inherited a client’s account from one of his colleagues. The complaint alleges that upon inheriting the client’s account, Markoski began selling off the client’s bond holdings that the client was relying upon the income from. The selling of the bonds before maturity allegedly resulted in $175,000 in losses.