Securities Lawyers Blog
According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Walter Bish (Bish), currently associated with Smith, Brown & Groover, Inc., has at least one disclosable event. These events include one tax lien, alleging that Bish recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on November 06, 2024.
Without admitting or denying the findings, Bish consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he recommended a trading strategy to certain of his customers without fully understanding the features and risks of the strategy or the exchange-traded note (ETN) that the strategy primarily invested in, and he did not have a reasonable basis to recommend the strategy to any customer. The findings stated that prior to recommending customers invest in the strategy, Bish did not conduct his own due diligence on the strategy or the ETN it primarily invested in. Bish did not fully understand how the trading strategy worked or the potential risks and rewards associated with it. For example, Bish was not aware that the ETN used in the trading strategy could be accelerated or terminated, or under what circumstances that could occur. Affected customers are being provided partial restitution pursuant to a separate settlement with Bish’s member firm.
