Securities Lawyers Blog
According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Tony Barouti (Barouti), currently associated with Emerson Equity LLC, has at least 27 disclosable events. These events include 27 customer complaints, alleging that Barouti recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint on December 23, 2024.
Breach of contract and warranties, promissory estoppel, consumer protection and deceptive trade practices act, violation of state securities statutes, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and gross negligence, misrepresentation/omission and negligent misrepresentation/omission, unjust enrichment, common law, statutory claims and damages, vicarious and control person liability.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $99,000.00 on October 30, 2024.
Negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, unjust enrichment. 02/2021
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint on October 30, 2024.
Wrongful conduct, breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud, fraud by misrepresentation and ommission, breach of written contract, violation of state and federal securities laws, FINRA rules of fair practice and NYSE rules,
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint on October 16, 2024.
Breach of Contract and warranties, promissory estoppel, violation of state securities statutes, breach of fiduciary duty, claims under common law, vicarious liability,
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $100,000.00 on September 11, 2024.
Customer alleges misrepresentations as to the nature of the security and unsuitable recommendation. The investment in question took place in March, 2022. The complaint was received on September 11, 2024.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $175,000.00 on September 09, 2024.
Common law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and gross negligence. 11/2019, 03/2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $450,000.00 on August 28, 2024.
Breach of fiduciary duty, Negligence and negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, overconcentration(negligence and breach of fiduciary duty), violation of Regulation Best Interest\, August 2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $281,000.00 on August 27, 2024.
Rescission, breach of written contract pursuant to the customer agreements, breach of fiduciary duty of failing to act in the claimants best interests, to deal fairly and honestly with the claimants, to observe fair business practices and equitable principles of trade as embodied in the standards of the securities industry, FINRA Rules, and Respondent’s own internal policies, to make only suitable investments and not to knowingly or negligently make material misrepresentations and omissions to claimants, negligence and gross negligence, misrepresentations and omissions, violation of FINRA rules, violation of federal securities laws, violation of the California Securities Act and violation of the Best Interest Obligations. 2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $44,000.00 on August 23, 2024.
Breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and violation of Regulation BI
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $357,500.00 on August 21, 2024.
Breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, overconcentration, violation of Regulation Best Interest
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $290,000.00 on June 11, 2024.
Rescission, breach of written contract, breach of fiduciary duty of failing to act in claimants’ best interest, negligence and gross negligence, misrepresentations and omissions, violation of FINRA rules, violation of federal securities laws, violation of the California Securities Act and violation of the Best Interest Obligation.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $200,000.00 on June 11, 2024.
Breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, overconcentration (negligence and breach of fiduciary duty), negligence-Violation of Regulation Best Interest. Investment made in 2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $300,000.00 on June 04, 2024.
Unsuitable Recommendations
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $50,000.00 on May 03, 2024.
Unsuitable and misleading investment recommendations, misrepresented and omitted material facts and risks, failure to conduct reasonable due diligence, violation of federal laws, state securities laws and Regulation BI. 02/2021
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint on April 26, 2024.
Breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, overconcentration(negligence and breach of fiduciary duty), violation of regulation best interest. June 2018
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint on April 24, 2024.
Violation of California securities laws, breach of contracts to follow securities laws, regulations and industry rules, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence,
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint on April 22, 2024.
Negligence, negligent misrepresentation and omission, intentional misrepresentation and omission, fraud, violation of CA securities laws, breach of fiduciary duty, unsuitability, overconcentration, breach of FINRA rules, breach of contract, rescission, loss of investment opportunity and violation of Reg BI. November 2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint on March 25, 2024.
Violations of Federal securities Laws, Violations of California securities laws, California unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices, Breach of contract, Common law fraud, Breach of fiduciary duty, Negligence and gross negligence, 03/11/2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $150,000.00 on March 04, 2024.
Unsuitable Investment
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $700,000.00 on February 20, 2024.
Negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, violation of CA securities act, unjust enrichment,
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $360,000.00 on January 08, 2024.
Violations of Federal Securities Laws; Violations of California Securities Laws; California Unfair, Unlawful, and Fraudulent Business Practices; Breach of contract; Common law fraud; Breach of Fiduciary Duty; Negligence and Gross Negligence. SOC states investments were made in 2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on December 22, 2023.
Negligence; Breach of Fidicuary Duty; Breach of Contract; Unjust Enrichment; Violation of California’s Securities Act; Financial Exploitation of a Senior. No date noted in SOC.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on September 05, 2023.
Rescission, breach of written contract, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and gross negligence, misrepresentations and omissions, violation of FINRA rules, violation of federal securities laws, violation of California Securities Act, violation of the Best Interest Obligations (RegBI).
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $200,000.00 on July 07, 2023.
Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Negligence and Negligent Misrepresentation, Breach of Contract, Failure to supervise, Negligence-Violation of Regulation Best Interest. 03/2021
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on May 19, 2023.
Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Negligence and Negligent Misrepresentation, Breach of contract, Overconcentration (negligence and breach of fiduciary duty), Negligence-violation of regulation best interest. 12/2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on May 04, 2023.
BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY, NEGLIGENCE AND NEGLIGENT MISREPRESENTATION, BREACH OF CONTRACT, OVERCONCENTRATION(NEGLIGENCE AND BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY), NEGLIGENCE-VIOLATION OF REGULATION BEST INTEREST. 08/2018-02/2020
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on February 24, 2023.
Negligence, negligent misrepresentation and omission, intentional misrepresentation and omission, fraud, violation of CA securities laws and related CA code of regulations, breach of fiduciary duty, unsuitability, breach of FINRA rules 2010,2020,2110,2111,2114,2310,3010,3110, rescission, loss of investment opportunity, violation of best interest and elder abuse. 12/2020-01/2021
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. Every recommendation’s cost and investor details are essential parts 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. Thus, without conducting its own reasonable investigation, a brokerage firm cannot depend solely on the issuer for information about a company.
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 indicate future regulatory and customer complaint issues can be predicted for brokers who have experienced them before. 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.
Barouti entered the securities industry in 1998. Barouti has been registered as a Broker with Emerson Equity LLC since 2017.
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.
