The financial industry is one built on commissions on the sales side and bonuses in the back office. While sales staff can often readily determine where they fall on the commission scale to determine their net payout, non-sales personnel do not typically have that luxury. Non-sales employees such as product…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has announced that Merrill Lynch has been fined $1.9 million and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $540,000 for fair pricing violations as well as supervisory violations related to the purchase of certain distressed securities. According to FINRA, more than 700 transactions…
Citigroup, Inc. has reportedly agreed to pay a $3 million fine for failing to properly deliver prospectuses to some customers. Specifically, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Citigroup failed to deliver prospectuses to customers who bought shares in one or more of 160 exchange traded funds (ETFs) in…
“Is my stockbroker charging me too much in commissions and fees?” This is a common question many investors frequently have. Unfortunately, all too often, the answer to this question is “Yes.” In fact, just yesterday, the SEC announced that it had fined a New York based broker-dealer, Linkbrokers (an affiliate…
In only three years, the Dodd-Frank whistleblower program, which promises cash rewards for those whose tips lead to a successful investigation by the SEC, has yielded more than 6,500 tips according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Though traditionally thought of as insiders, tipsters do not just…
LPL Financial LLC has been hit again for supervisory failures stemming from the recommendation of non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), as well as other illiquid investments, begging the question whether the fines are large enough to deter future bad conduct. According to a news release dated March 24, 2014,…
Keith Edwards, a former J.P. Morgan employee is due to receive a nearly $64 million payment from the U.S. government for the tips he provided as a whistleblower. Mr. Edwards provided information that led to a payment by J.P. Morgan to the government in the amount of $614 million stemming…
Jenice Malecki of Malecki Law will be in Washington, D.C. tomorrow to meet with Congressmen and Senators along with others from the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA) to advocate for the Investor Choice Act and federal legislation to increase transparency and accountability from our financial regulators. Ms. Malecki will…
Just yesterday, FINRA announced that it has fined Iowa-based broker-dealer Berthel Fisher $775,000 for failures to adequately train and supervise brokers selling alternative investments, such as real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), and non-traditional exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), including leveraged and inverse ETFs. In addition to REITs and ETFs, Berthel brokers…
In recent weeks, attention has turned to the Securities and Exchange Commission‘s declining success rate when going to trial against alleged wrongdoers. Publications such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have run multiple articles recently about this surprising decline. Per the Wall Street Journal, the SEC’s success…