Securities Lawyers Blog
According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Eric Stone (Stone), previously associated with Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, has at least 3 disclosable events. These events include 2 customer complaints, one tax lien, alleging that Stone 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 $2,705,745.64 on December 13, 2024.
Customer alleges that she loaned money to the former employee and that she has not been repaid. Only $30,000 of claimed damages relate to conduct prior to former employee’s termination.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $38,400.00 on September 25, 2023.
Customer alleges that she loaned money to the former employee and that she has not been fully repaid.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on March 02, 2023.
Without admitting or denying the findings, Stone consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to make a complete production of documents and failed to appear for on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation originating from a Form U5 filed by his member firm. The findings stated that the Form U5 disclosed that Stone had been discharged because of concerns related to loans he solicited and obtained from clients. Stone did not respond by the due date, but belatedly provided a statement that included some of the information sought by the request. Although Stone later provided additional information, he failed to provide substantially all of the information or any of the documents sought in the first request by the due date, and those materials remain outstanding.
Under the securities laws brokers are obligated to act in their clients’ best interests and provide only suitable recommendations for investments to the client. In addition, the SEC has promulgated ‘Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI)‘ which according to the SEC enhanced the broker-dealer standard of conduct beyond existing suitability obligations and requires broker-dealers to act in the best interest of a retail customer when making a recommendation of 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 have an obligation to first obtain and evaluate sufficient information about a retail investor to form a reasonable basis to believe the account recommendations are in the retail investor’s best interest. Recommendations cannot be based on materially inaccurate or incomplete information. Data on the investor and the expense of the advice are consistently 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, a brokerage firm should not depend solely on the issuer for data about a company instead of performing its own thorough review.
To protect investors, it should be required to mandate broker disclosures. Brokers are required to disclose reportable events such as customer complaints, IRS tax liens, judgments, investigations, terminations, and even criminal matters on FINRA’s BrokerCheck reports for public viewing. FINRA has recognized that recent research shows brokers with a past record of regulatory or customer complaint issues are more likely to have such problems again in the future. FINRA’s Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) published a study showing the predictability of disciplinary and disclosure events based on past 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.
Stone has been in the securities industry for more than 13 years. Stone has been registered as a Broker with Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC since 2008.
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.
