Industry Topics

Malecki Law Attorneys Spread Awareness About Elder Exploitation

October 27, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The Securities Fraud attorneys at Malecki Law today visited the Hudson Guild Senior Center to educate members of their Naturally Occuring Retirement Community (NORC) about Elder Financial Exploitation. Adam Nicolazzo and Robert Van de Veire addressed a group of 15-20 senior members of that community about investment fraud, common red flag signs of fraud, and how to protect their retirement income and nest eggs.

According to FINRA, the elderly lose approximately $ 2.9 billion every year due to fraud. The Malecki Law attorneys try to create awareness within communities of elders about dangers of elder financial exploitation and empower them to take legal recourse if they are victimized. The seniors get educated about regulatory authorities like FINRA and SEC, and tools like BrokerCheck available to them. The Malecki Law team used real life examples of Ponzi and affinity schemers, who are known to have preyed on the elderly, to help senior members understand the realities of financial fraud and that it comes in many forms. They also offer free consultation and case evaluation in these sessions.

Malecki Law continues to work towards positive changes in elder law within the securities industry and Jenice Malecki recently participated in a panel on Dangers of Diminished Capacity at the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association’s (PIABA) annual conference.

Jenice L. Malecki Moderated A Panel Today at PIABA

October 23, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Ms. Jenice Malecki was a moderator today at Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association’s (PIABA) panel on ‘The Danger of Diminished Capacity, Ethics as a Broker and for the Lawyer.’ The seminar discussed what diminished capacity is, important studies on dealing with clients with diminished capacity as financial advisors and lawyers, and elder financial abuse and privacy law issues. The panel moderated by Ms. Malecki consisted of distinguished members of the financial and legal community including the President of the Investor Trust Protection, a former SEC attorney and an elder lawyer.

According to FINRA’s estimates, the elderly lose approximately $ 2.9 billion every year due to fraud and an average of 10,000 Americans will turn 65 over the next 15 years. Senior investors with diminished capacity are more at risk of falling victim to financial fraud than other investors and the financial industry should fully utilize its power to prevent substantial economic harm to elderly clients. Ms. Malecki has also co-authored an article for PIABA titled Protecting Clients with Diminished Capacity In The Securities Industry: It’s Tricky.

This panel is part of PIABA’s 24^th Annual Meeting held in Florida from Oct 21- 23, 2015.

I Have Just Been Fired By UBS in Puerto Rico. What Do I Do?

October 19, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

A number of senior management with UBS Puerto Rico were terminated late last week, according to sources. It is believed that individuals from marketing, investment banking, lending and other areas of the bank’s operations on the island were all let go. Read the recent report by Reuters on this here.

Consistent with industry custom, those who were let go were reportedly offered a severance package which they have roughly two to three weeks to accept or reject. Since these packages are usually contingent upon a general release of liability (meaning that the individual cannot sue the firm), for those individuals who were offered packages, there are likely a number of factors that should be considered before deciding to accept or reject. Once a general release is signed, virtually all claims for monetary damages that could have been brought before are then lost forever.

For anyone, being fired is a major life event. For licensed professionals, being fired comes with the potential for an additional life-changing of having a mark on their license in connection with their termination. If you are a licensed professional and are asked to sign an agreement, whether or not you have any intention of filing an action or any possibility of a FINRA U5 issue, it is always wise to seek the advice of a lawyer to learn about both your rights and what you might be giving up before you sign anything. Once you sign, it is too late. This is not the time to be “penny wise and pound foolish” – this is the time to consult with counsel to make informed decisions. Many lawyers provide free consultations.

Malecki Law Attorneys, Jenice Malecki & Bob Van De Veire, Named Top Attorney & Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2015

October 1, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Jenice L. Malecki has been once again rated as a Top Attorney by Super Lawyers in 2015. Ms. Malecki, a well-known Securities Attorney and owner of Malecki Law, has had the distinction of being a Super Lawyer rated Top Attorney since 2012. According to Super Lawyers outstanding attorneys from diverse practice areas are selected based on formal nominations by peers. Ms. Malecki also has several other peer rated distinctions to her credit including “AV Preeminent Rated” by Martindale Hubbell and New York’s Women Leaders in the Law in 2014.

Robert M. Van De Veire, a Securities attorney at Malecki Law, has been awarded the distinction of being a Rising Star by Super Lawyers. Mr. Van De Veire’s practice focuses on representing investors and industry professionals in Securities arbitration and litigation. According to Super Lawyers only “no more than 2.5 percent of lawyers in a state are named to Rising Stars”.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

FINRA Crackdown on Broker Migration: 10 Former Global Arena Representatives Sanctioned After On-site exam

September 18, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

FINRA reported that it barred 10 former Global Arena Representatives including the former President of Global Arena Capital Corp., Barbara Desiderio, and five former representatives (David Awad a.k.a. David Bennett, James Torres, Peter Snetzko, Alex Wildermuth, and Michael Tannen) in all capacities; barred two former principals, Kevin Hagan and Richard Bohack, for supervisory failures; sanctioned two other former brokers, Niaz Elmazi a.k.a. Nick Morrisey and Andrew Marze, for failing to cooperate with FINRA’s investigation. FINRA had cancelled Global Arena’s membership and barred the owner and three other brokers for fraud in July 2015 in a separate action.

FINRA announced that a 2014 on-site audit and investigation at Global Arena Capital Corp had allegedly revealed several instances of securities fraud including product misrepresentation, use of misleading claims, account churning, unsuitability, and other misconduct like use of high pressure sales tactics to make sales of junk bonds to customers. FINRA reports that their business model involved cold calling vulnerable groups of investors including seniors to make solicited recommendations of securities. These sanctions reiterate FINRA’S focus on tracking down groups of brokers who migrate from one risky and problem-ridden firm to another, with questionable practices. In this instance reported by FINRA, seven of the ten individuals had moved to Global Arena’s new office from HFP Capital Market, a firm that was expelled by FINRA in 2013. Apparently, FINRA’s risk-based approach identified certain brokers who had moved from HFP for heightened regulatory investigation, which confirmed FINRA’s suspicions. In settling the actions, the respondents neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings.

According to Susan Axelrod, FINRA’s Executive Vice President, Regulatory Operations, FINRA will continue will continue to monitor brokers who move from expelled or high-risk securities firms. They will use data leveraged from their study of broker migration to expedite investigations and sanction brokers who tend to prey on vulnerable investors.

Adam F. Coblin Is No Longer A Registered Broker and Financial Advisor and Has Been the Subject of Ten Customer Complaints

August 28, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The securities fraud attorneys at Malecki Law are interested in hearing from investors with complaints involving Adam F. Coblin. Per his BrokerCheck Report, maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Mr. Coblin is currently not a registered stock broker or investment advisor. He was previously registered with the Gilford Securities Incorporated in New York.

Mr. Coblin’s BrokerCheck Report indicates that he has been the subject of at least ten customer complaints. At the center of several of these complaints was unsuitable investments leading to huge financial losses, negligence in handling customer accounts, unauthorized sales. In 2013, Adam Coblin resigned from Gilford Securities while he was being reviewed for customer complaints involving unsuitable investments, activity and negligence.

According to BrokerCheck, there are numerous customer disputes in the past, dating from 2012 to 1995, involving Mr. Coblin which have been settled by awarding damages of $910,000, $3,000, $107,500 and $32,000. He has also been registered with the GMS Group LLC, Spencer Clarke LLC, Broadband Capital Management LLC, Dalton Kent Securities Group, Bluestone Capital Partners, Gruntal & Co., Prudential Securities Inc., Oppenheimer & Co., Merill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Co., Bear Stearns & Co.

BROKER REPORT: Former Financial Advisor Manuel Dopazo

August 25, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The securities fraud attorneys at Malecki Law are interested in investigated possible claims on behalf of investors who have complaints regarding former stockbroker Manuel Dopazo. According to his BrokerCheck report maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Mr. Dopazo has been the subject of multiple customer disputes in just the past ten years.

Per FINRA, in 2015 a customer complaint involving Mr. Dopazo alleged misrepresentations, omissions, failure to supervise, and the recommendation of unsuitable investments seeking $640,000 in damages.

In 2009, Mr. Dopazo was involved with another customer dispute alleging a $30,000 loss, per BrokerCheck. Another customer complaint, in 2008, alleged more than $50,000 in losses stemming from suitability violations.

Are We Still At A “Sweet Spot” for SEC Whistleblowers?

August 21, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

According to an article by Rob Lenihan of Thomson Reuters, published in August 2014, Sean McKessey, head of the SEC’s whistleblower program, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that the numbers [of whistleblower complaints] will soon grow and “we’re getting close to the sweet spot.” Malecki Law had reported on this Wall Street Journal article and examined the state of Dodd-Frank Whistleblower program, as it existed then, in this blog post. A year into it, let’s examine where we are at with the growing numbers.

During the 2014 fiscal year, the number of whistleblower tips and complaints received by the Commission grew 10.1 % from the year before to 3,620. The Dodd- Frank Whistleblower program, which promises cash rewards for those whose tips lead to a successful investigation by the SEC, has witnessed many milestones in past four years. In a recent development, SEC paid a handsome $3 million to a company insider in July 2015, who helped crack a complex fraud case.

According to Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Insiders may hold the key to helping our investigators unlock intricate fraudulent schemes,” and “by providing significant financial incentives for people to come forward, the SEC’s whistleblower program continues to be profoundly effective in helping us protect investors and hold wrongdoers accountable.” The SEC’s whistleblower program has already paid more than $50 million to 18 whistleblowers, since its inception in 2011, including $30 million in awards in 2014, more than doubling the $14 million rewards it paid in 2013. Let’s hope the trend continues!

BROKER REPORT: Over Ten Customer Complaints Against Michael Fasciglione

August 20, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The securities fraud attorneys at Malecki Law are interested in hearing from investors who have complaints against stockbroker Michael Fasciglione. Mr. Fasciglione is believed to be registered with National Securities Corporation, based out of Mineola, NY. He has also recently been registered with Oppenheimer & Co. and First Montauk Securities, according to industry records.

According to BrokerCheck, as maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Mr. Fasciglione has been the subject of more than 10 customer complaints. Stretching back as far as 1995, Mr. Fasciglione has been accused of recommending unsuitable investments to customers, breach of fiduciary duty, churning, excessive trading, fraud, unauthorized trading, taking excessive risk, misrepresentations, allowing a customer’s account to exceed comfortable margin balances, and charging excessive commissions, per FINRA records.

Of these customer disputes, FINRA records indicate that some customers received back tens of thousands of dollars in connection with their complaints. One customer reportedly received back $300,000 in connection with an unauthorized trading complaint, while another reportedly received $120,000 in a suitability claim.

BROKER REPORT: Churning Complaints Regarding Dwarka Persaud

August 18, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The securities fraud attorneys are interested in hearing from investors with complaints involving Dwarka Persaud. Per his BrokerCheck Report, maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Mr. Persaud is a registered stock broker with Buckman, Buckman & Reid, based out of Shrewsbury, NJ.

Mr. Persaud’s BrokerCheck Report indicates that he has been the subject of at least six customer complaints. At the center of several of these complaints was churning and excessive commissions. Churning is the frequent,over-trading of a customer’s account by the broker to generate high commissions paid by the customer, benefitting the broker and the firm. Churning is against the law and industry regulations.

Mr. Persaud is reportedly the subject of at least two currently pending customer complaints, each alleging and “unauthorized trading.” One of these complaints also alleges churning. The other alleges that the unauthorized trading caused more than $45,000 in losses.