Industry Topics

Former Caldwell Broker, Richard Adams, Barred by FINRA for Churning Customer Accounts

August 14, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Per Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) announcement this week, a former registered representative of Caldwell International Securities Corp., Richard Adams aka Rasheed Aree Adams, has been barred permanently from the securities industry for churning customer accounts, other securities violations, and failure to report many unsatisfied judgments and liens on his U4 Registration Form as stipulated in FINRA rules. In addition to Caldwell, he was also previously registered with PHD Capital and E1 Asset Management Inc. from 2002 to 2011.

FINRA’s investigation revealed that Adams excessively traded the accounts of two customers, between July 2013 and June 2014, resulting in profits and commissions in the excess of $57,000 for himself while resulting in losses amounting to over $37,000 for customers. The findings stated that as a result Adams willfully violated section 10(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and rule 10B-5, willfully failed to amend Form U4, and failed to provide documents requested by FINRA. Adams neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings.

Richard Adams is no stranger to regulatory and legal proceedings and has a reported history of customer disputes and violations. According to the CRD 13 judgement/liens, 5 customer disputes, 2 investigations and 1 regulatory disclosures have been reported against him. In 2001 there were allegations of unsuitability, unauthorized trading, and churning made against him while he was employed at The Golden Lender Financial Group, Inc, and this customer dispute was finally settled for $10,000. Currently, there is a pending FINRA investigation against Adams for potential violation of FINRA rules 2010 and 2111, and willful violations of Article V, section 2 from 2014.

Aegis Capital Fined By FINRA; Senior Management Suspended

August 4, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

FINRA has announced that it has fined Aegis Capital Corp. $950,000 for sales of unregistered penny stocks and anti-money laundering violations. According to FINRA, this fine was also related to supervisory failures within the firm.

The firm was not the only one that FINRA appears to have come down hard upon. Reports show that Charles D. Smulevitz and Kevin C. McKenna, who each served as the firm’s Chief Compliance and AML Compliance Offices were given 30-day and 60-day principal suspensions and fined $5,000 and $10,000, respectively, per FINRA. Aegis’ president, Robert Eide, was also reportedly given a “time-out” in the form of a 15-day suspension for failing to disclosed more than a half-million dollars in outstanding liens, in violation of FINRA rules.

FINRA reportedly found that from April of 2009 through June of 2011, Aegis liquidated almost 4 billion shares of penny stocks which were neither properly registered nor exempted from registration with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission. According to FINRA, Aegis committed these violations in spite of a multitude of “red flags” or warning signs that something was amiss.

This Week at Malecki Law

July 31, 2015 | Jenice L. Malecki, Esq.

It was an eventful week at Malecki Law with prominent stories in the press, speaking engagements at legal educational organizations, appointments to bar association committees, and introduction to securities fraud in different communities.

Malecki Law announced the filing of a $25 million FINRA claim against UBS Puerto Rico on behalf of seven former UBS brokers, following a mass departure of brokers from UBS Puerto Rico. In the Statement of Claim filed with FINRA, the registered former UBS representatives allege that UBS management misled its brokers and customers, and threatened and pressured the brokers to sell the the Puerto Rican closed-end fund products. This news generated a lot of interest amongst the financial media and has appeared in over 30 prominent financial websites and blogs including Market Watch, The Street, and Caribbean Business News. Subsequently, this news announcement has generated a great deal of interest in the legal and financial professionals’ community.

Securities Fraud is not a problem isolated only to large cities like New York City. Hard working people in towns and cities nationwide find themselves the victims of investment fraud every day from rural Texas to downtown Chicago. Therefore, Malecki Law introduced a Communities section on their www.aboutsecuritieslaw.com website to make individuals around the country aware of historic and actively suspicious financial schemes.

This Week At Malecki Law: Attorneys Submit Letters to Members of the Congress to Advocate for Department of Labor’s Proposal Seeking to Hold Financial Advisors to a Higher Standard

July 24, 2015 | Jenice L. Malecki, Esq.

This week, the attorneys at Malecki Law sent letters to several United States Senate and House of Representatives members, urging them to support the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposal to hold financial advisors to a higher standard and act in the best interest of retirement investors. These members of the Congress include the Honorable Charles E. Schumer, the Honorable Jerrold Nadler, and the Honorable Kirsten E. Gillibrand.

Millions of Americans have worked their whole life to build a retirement nest egg and count on their retirement savings to support them through their golden years. The DOL’s proposal addresses loopholes in the current rules that make it far too easy for some advisers to take advantage of these hard-working Americans and line their own pockets with retirement savings. Our system is so broken that brokers often can and do put their own interest in commissions above the interests of their clients, causing them to be in unsuitable products just so the broker could earn additional commissions.

When someone turns their life savings over to someone for advice, they believe their financial adviser is going to do what’s best for them. We have never heard a client recount a story of a financial advisor that told them that they are not fiduciaries, in fact, we hear just the opposite. We all see the advertisements on television that say the financial advisers are there to help us, but we need to know that financial advisers are obligated to put client interests first, as well as be able to receive that assurance in writing.

I’m FINRA Licensed and Under Internal Investigation: What Should I Do?

July 23, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

“My broker dealer wants me to meet with its lawyers.” This is the start of a FINRA registered representative’s worst nightmare.

Your heart is pounding and your head starts to race. “Why me?” “What do they want to know?” “What could I have done?” “Are they going to ask me about the XYZ account?” “I’m sure that I did everything right and by the book, didn’t I?”

If you did do something that may have been a violation of the law, FINRA Rules, or the firm’s manual, you will likely begin to think about the potential punishment (fine, suspension, termination) even before you hang up the phone or close the door to your office. Once an investigation into your conduct starts, you are not able to leave with a “voluntary” termination, but at best would be “permitted to resign during a firm investigation.”

SEC Charges Malcolm Segal Of Running Ponzi Scheme From His Pennsylvania Office

July 1, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that is has formally charged Malcolm Segal with running a Ponzi scheme and stealing investor money from his office in Pennsylvania. According to his BrokerCheck Report, Mr. Segal was formerly a registered stockbroker with Aegis Capital Corp. and Cumberland Advisors. Mr. Segal reportedly was a partner in J&M Financial and the president of National CD Sales.

According to the SEC, Mr. Segal allegedly sold what he called certificates of deposit (CDs) to his brokerage customers under the false pretense that he could get them a higher rate of interest than was then available through banks. Mr. Segal allegedly represented to his victims that his CDs were FDIC insured and risk-free. Mr. Segal reportedly defrauded at least fifty investors out of roughly $15.5 million.

As his scheme was unravelling, Mr. Segal allegedly began to steal from his customers’ brokerage accounts by falsifying fraudulent paperwork such as letters of authorization. This fake paperwork reportedly allowed Mr. Segal to withdraw funds from his customers’ accounts without them knowing. Ultimately, in July 2014, the scheme collapsed completely. Mr. Segal has since been barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp. Fined By FINRA Over Nontraditional ETF Sales and Improper Supervision

May 21, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp. (BDFS) based out of West Des Moines, Iowa just learned the hard way that nontraditional Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are risky, speculative investments and are not appropriate for all investors.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently fined BDFS $75,000 for 1. failing to properly supervise the sale of leveraged ETFs to its customers, 2. not properly training its sales force about the appropriate use of leveraged ETFs in customer accounts, and 3. not adequately supervising nontraditional ETF activity in customer accounts.

According the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent, from March of 2009 to April of 2012, BDFS “recommended nontraditional ETFs to more than 200 customers” without “a reasonable basis for believing that the nontraditional ETF transactions it recommended were suitable for any investor.” BDFS’s ETF related misconduct was said to have violated NASD Rules 2310 and 3010 along with FINRA Rules 2010 and 2111.

FINRA Bars Former Wells Fargo Broker Nicholas Hansen Harper

May 15, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has permanently barred Nicholas Hansen Harper. Harper worked in Wells Fargo’s Topeka, Kansas branch office from 1997 through 2013 according to his BrokerCheck Report.

Per the Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent filed with FINRA, Harper resigned from Wells Fargo on August 7, 2013, shortly after the firm’s compliance department began to review trading in the accounts of certain of his customers. The timing of Harper’s resignation can only serve to raise suspicions.

Presumably suspicious of Harper, in March of 2015, FINRA requested Harper provide testimony to FINRA investigators pursuant to Rule 8210. More than one month after the request was issues, FINRA staff spoke to Harper’s attorney, who purportedly indicated that Harper would not be appearing before FINRA to provide testimony at any time.

FINRA Looks To Come Down Harder On Brokers And Firms Making Unsuitable Recommendations to Customers

May 13, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

What should happen to a financial advisor (FA) if they provide unsuitable and inappropriate investment advice to their clients?

First, if the unsuitable advice given to a customer caused losses to that customer’s account, the customer has the option to sue the FA in FINRA arbitration. Investors can recover some or all of their losses due to the bad advice – usually against the firm that the FA worked for in a failure to supervise case. Arbitration is common for aggrieved investors, and this law firm has successfully represented numerous investors who have been the victims of unsuitable investment advice from an FA.

But what about punishing the broker, so he or she doesn’t do it again to someone else? Can they go to jail? If not, what does happens?

JP Morgan Investigated By SEC and Other Authorities Over Sale of Proprietary Products

May 8, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

Is it okay for a broker-dealer to use bonuses and other incentives to encourage its financial advisors to steer customers into “in house” and proprietary funds that may not be right for them just to generate more fees for the firm? Or does this practice improperly (and illegally) incentivize the financial advisor to betray his customer’s trust for his and his firm’s benefit – thereby compromising the integrity of the relationship?

The SEC is asking just those types of questions about the practices of JP Morgan, according to recent reports. Per InvestmentNews, the SEC and other regulators have subpoenaed and otherwise inquired of JP Morgan about the firm’s sales practices. Specifically, the reports indicate that the focus seems to be on conflicts of interest related to the sales of mutual funds and other proprietary products to customers. The SEC is reportedly looking into whether JP Morgan breached duties to its customers and/or applicable laws by unfairly and/or illegally marketing its in house investment products.

The sale of in-house proprietary products can be a very lucrative business for large “wire houses” as they are known in the industry. Wire houses include such familiar names as JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, etc. By performing all of the structuring, issuing, lending and selling for their proprietary funds internally, a wire house is able to capture all of the associated fees, commissions and charges. Therefore, it is important that regulators review the sales of such in house products, to make sure they are being sold fairly and legally to customers.