With the economy on a rocky footing, the climate is right for investment scams. These scams can impact investors of all ages, but those hit hardest are the seniors. Often isolated and suffering a diminishing capacity to discern truth from lies, elderly investors are particularly vulnerable to clever investment scams that promise high returns for low or no risk.
FINRA Recruits More Female Arbitrators
FINRA Report Exposes Investors Oblivious to Fees
FINRA Proposal on Unpaid Arbitration Awards Not Good Enough
FINRA Fines Firms for Failing to "Know Your Customer"
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned Citigroup Global Markets, J.P. Morgan Securities, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch for failure to ensure compliance with FINRA Rule 2090 “Know Your Customer” rule, dealing with custodial accounts. The Rule requires member firms and their associated representatives to use reasonable diligence to determine the “essential facts” about each customer and “the authority of each person acting on behalf of such customer.”
FINRA Proposes Ban on Non-Attorney Reps in Arbitration
Majority of Investors Fail FINRA Investing Quiz
SEC Charges REIT with Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, 13th December, 2019 charged the CEO and owner of a small nontraded real estate investment trust, First Capital Real Estate Trust Inc. (First Capital REIT), with fraud. Allegedly he lied about owning a dozen hotels and adding them to the REIT to close a deal.
FINRA Disciplinary Action Report: Dec 2019
Each month, the agency that regulates the financial industry, FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), produces a detailed report that runs down all disciplinary actions recently taken against brokerage firms and brokers. We strongly encourage any investor who suspects their broker and/or broker-dealer of having lost them money on dubious terms to at least skim this report to see if you recognize any names, schemes, products, or securities.
FINRA: Suitability and Sales Practice Issues Linger
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc (FINRA) released its “2019 Report on Examination Findings and Observations”, in October 2019. The report reflected key finding/observations identified in FINRA’s recent examinations of broker-dealers and practices FINRA deems to be effective in helping firms improve their compliance and risk management programs. In this article, we summarize aspects of FINRA’s report, relevant to the structured products industry.
Ex-Canuck Sues Financial Advisor Alleging Fraud
Former Vancouver Canucks’s Defenseman, Jason Garrison, is suing his financial advisers, alleging fraudulent financial advice for the purpose of personal profit. The suit claims the financial adviser, Richard Jones sold Jason Garrison a series of unsuitable investment vehicles and insurance policies, which cost him more than $27.6 million.
Unpaid Arbitration Awards Plague Industry
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc (FINRA)., along with the rest of the securities industry, is staring at a fresh wave of unpaid and embarrassing arbitration awards against it. Arb awards go unpaid when investors win lawsuits against broker-dealers that sold them unsuitable, faulty or troubled products only to see the B-Ds go belly up and run out of money before they can pay investor damages.
FINRA Disciplinary Action Report: Nov 2019
Each month, the agency that regulates the financial industry, FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), produces a detailed report that runs down all disciplinary actions recently taken against brokerage firms and brokers. We strongly encourage any investor who suspects their broker and/or broker-dealer of having lost them money on dubious terms to at least skim this report to see if you recognize any names, schemes, products, or securities.
FINRA Disciplinary Action Report: Oct 2019
Each month, the agency that regulates the financial industry, FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), produces a detailed report that runs down all disciplinary actions recently taken against brokerage firms and brokers. We strongly encourage any investor who suspects their broker and/or broker-dealer of having lost them money on dubious terms to at least skim this report to see if you recognize any names, schemes, products, or securities.
FINRA Disciplinary Action Report: Sept 2019
Each month, the agency that regulates the financial industry, FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), produces a detailed report that runs down all disciplinary actions recently taken against brokerage firms and brokers. We strongly encourage any investor who suspects their broker and/or broker-dealer of having lost them money on dubious terms to at least skim this report to see if you recognize any names, schemes, products, or securities.
Investment Scams Target Elderly Investors
With the economy on a rocky footing, the climate is right for investment scams. These scams can impact investors of all ages, but those hit hardest are the seniors. Often isolated and suffering a diminishing capacity to discern truth from lies, elderly investors are particularly vulnerable to clever investment scams that promise high returns for low or no risk.
FINRA Disciplinary Action Report: August 2019
Each month, the agency that regulates the financial industry, FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), produces a detailed report that runs down all disciplinary actions recently taken against brokerage firms and brokers. We strongly encourage any investor who suspects their broker and/or broker-dealer of having lost them money on dubious terms to at least skim this report to see if you recognize any names, schemes, products, or securities.
Why Is Investor Fraud So Common?
There are different degrees of investor fraud, ranging from the lack of alignment between your interests and those of your stock broker to the notoriety of billion-dollar scam artists like Bernie Madoff. How do you calculate a figure like this? It’s difficult. But between structural problems like a lack of fiduciary duty between investors and advisors to criminal enterprises like Ponzi Schemes, the losses to investors are in the many billions.
Investors: Ask These Five Questions
We are often asked how investors can best protect themselves against unscrupulous financial advisors and toxic investments. The truth is, most investors simply don’t ask the right questions before they sign on with a broker or put their hard-earned money into the next hot complex investment product. These five questions will at least give you a measure of protection against the worse depredations of the securities industry.
Investors Awarded $1.16M for REIT Sales
In a case that points up many of the problems that have been plaguing the securities industry for years, a FINRA panel of arbitrators awarded six investors more than $1M in relief after they alleged that a financial advisor and three executives for Berthel Fisher & Co sold them unsuitable complex products.