barred

SEC Bars Michael Breton for “Cherry-Picking”

January 26, 2017 | Malecki Law Team

Michael J. Breton of Massachusetts was banned from the securities industry by the SEC according to a recent InvestmentNews report. According to the report, Mr. Breton cost his clients $1.3 million by “cherry-picking” trades – i.e., placing trades through one central account then allocating the profitable trades to himself and the losing trades to clients. This practice reportedly continued from 2011 to July of this past year.

On Wednesday, the SEC filed charges against Mr. Breton and Strategic Capital Management, Mr. Breton’s firm, in federal court in Massachusetts. Mr. Breton has agreed to plead guilty to criminal securities fraud and forfeit $1.3 million, per the report. According to InvestmentNews, the US Attorney’s Office has agreed to recommend a maximum sentence of no more than three years.

BROKER REPORT: Former UBS Broker Jeffrey Howell Barred by FINRA

October 14, 2016 | Malecki Law Team

The investment and securities fraud attorneys at Malecki Law are interested in hearing from investors who have complaints regarding former UBS financial adviser Jeffrey Howell.

Per reports, Mr. Howell has been barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”)for providing a customer with false weekly account statements for over six years. According to a settlement notice in connection with an investigation by FINRA , Mr. Howell sent these weekly statements with inflated values, at times overvaluing the account by close to $3 million.

Mr. Howell also allegedly used his own personal email account to distribute these reports, which compromised the accuracy of the firm’s books and records. Per BrokerCheck, Mr. Howell has not been licensed in the securities industry since 2014.

Broker Brian Berger Barred From Securities Industry Over Questions Concerning Misappropriation of Customer Funds

July 31, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

According to a recent Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) submitted by broker Brian Berger with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Mr. Berger has been banned from associating with a broker-dealer in the securities industry. According to the AWC, in June 2015 FINRA “initiated an investigation into allegations that Mr. Berger had misappropriated funds from elderly customers with registered with Wells Fargo Advisors LLC and MetLife Securities, Inc.” Mr. Berger was reported to be licensed by Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC from July 2010 through July 2014, and with MetLife Securities, Inc. from July 2014 to April 2015. It is further reported that he was briefly licensed by a different broker-dealer named Newbridge Securities Corporation from April to June 2015.

As stated in the AWC, Mr. Berger did not to voluntarily participate in FINRA’s investigation, and as a result was barred from the securities industry.

Mr. Berger’s publicly available CRD Report describes several customer complaints that he has faced since 2011. The CRD Report shows that a customer alleged that there were unauthorized payments made against the customer’s account for discover card accounts owned by the financial advisor. Though reported that the customer alleged damages of approximately $175,000, the allegations were reported as settled for approximately $186,000.