Securities Lawyers Blog
The securities lawyers of Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating a customer complaint filed with The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against broker Nathaniel Clay (Clay). According to BrokerCheck records Clay has been subject to at least six customer complaint and one employment termination for cause. The customer complaints against Clay allege securities law violations that including unsuitable investments, churning, excessive trading, and unauthorized trading among other claims.
The most recent complaint was filed in December 2015 alleging $513,218 in damage stemming from unauthorized trading, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and misrepresentations. The complaint is still pending.
Clay’s former brokerage firm National Securities Corporation (National Securities) was recently featured in a study ranking brokerage firms by incidents of misconduct. According to a study conducted by the Securities Litigation and Consulting Group entitled “How Widespread and Predictable is Stock Broker Misconduct?” the incidents of investor harm at National Securities is extraordinarily high. The study ranked National Securities as the third worst brokerage firm finding that brokers at the firm had over a 31% misconduct rate. The study stated that investors should stay away from National Securities “Given their coworkers’ disclosure record as of 2014, 83.7% of the brokers at these six firms would be in the highest risk quintile as defined in the FINRA study and should be avoided by investors. The BrokerCheck reports for most of the brokers at these six firms should prominently display a skull and crossbones warning.”