Securities Lawyers Blog
The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that advisor Gautam Arora (Arora) has been accused by his former employer engaging in unapproved investments among other allegations. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Arora was terminated by his prior employer, Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc. (Transamerica Financial) concerning his promissory note sales. If you have been a victim of Arora’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.
In December 2019 Transamerica Financial terminated Arora after alleging that firm received information indicating that the representative solicited various individuals to participate in unapproved investments away from the firm. The firm further alleged that the representative entered into lending arrangements and promissory notes with these individuals without receiving prior approval from the firm.
Arora’s outside business activities disclosed on his publicly available BrokerCheck report include World Financial Group, Inc., Real estate broker, and Keller William Realty.
Our law firm has significant experience bringing cases on behalf of defrauded victims when their advisors engage in receiving loans from clients or selling securities sales through OBAs. The sale of unapproved investment products – is a practice known in the industry as “selling away” – a serious violation of the securities laws. In the industry the term selling away refers to when a financial advisor solicits investments in companies, promissory notes, or other securities that are not pre-approved by the broker’s affiliated firm. Sometimes those investments have some legitimacy but often times these types of investments can end up being Ponzi schemes or the advisor can be engaging in the conversion of funds.
However, federal securities laws and the FINRA rules require firms to monitor and supervise its employees in order to detect and prevent brokers from offering investments in this fashion. In order to properly supervise their brokers each firm is required to have procedures in order to monitor the activities of each advisor’s activities and interaction with the public. Selling away misconduct often occurs where brokerage firms either fail to put in place a reasonable supervisory system or fail to actually implement that system. Supervisory failures allow brokers to engage in unsupervised misconduct that can include all manner improper conduct including selling away.
In cases of selling away the investor is unaware that the advisor’s investments are improper. In many of these cases the investor will not learn that the broker’s activities were wrongful until after the investment scheme is publicized, the broker is fired or charged by law enforcement, or stops returning client calls altogether.
Arora entered the securities industry in 2013. From February 2013 until December 2019 Arora was associated with Transamerica Financial out of the firm’s Orange, California office location.
Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation. Investors may be able recover their losses through securities arbitration. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are experienced in representing investors in cases of selling away and brokerage firms failure to supervise their representatives. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.