excessive commissions

BROKER REPORT: Robert Emmet Gill Is Fined $5,000 and Suspended from the Securities Industry for 30 Days

October 7, 2015 | Malecki Law Team

The securities fraud attorneys at Malecki Law are interested in hearing from investors who have complaints against stockbroker Robert Emmet Gill. Mr. Gill is employed and registered with Chelsea Financial Services, a broker-dealer with an office in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, according to his publicly available BrokerCheck, as maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He was also previously registered with J.P. Turner & Company, LLC, Grayson Financial, LLC, M.S. Farrell & Company, Inc. and Investors Associates, Inc. Grayson and Investors Associates were expelled from FINRA in 2006 and 1998, respectively.

According to his BrokerCheck report, a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) was accepted by FINRA stating that Mr. Gill was fined $5,000 and suspended from associating with any broker-dealer for borrowing $100,000 from a customer without notifying his then-employer J.P. Turner & Company, in violation of industry rules. Mr. Gill’s BrokerCheck report also discloses that he was “permitted to resign” from J.P. Turner based on the same allegations as those set forth in the AWC.

Mr. Gill’s BrokerCheck report sets forth that he was the subject of four customer disputes involving allegations of unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentations made and churning. Three of those four disputes resulted in settlements of $700,000 (with Mr. Gill contributing $50,000 personally), $32,500 and $35,610, respectively, according to industry records.

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.