Articles Posted in Investigation

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced significant penalties against sixteen firms for widespread recordkeeping failures, amounting to over $81 million in combined fines. Among the firms involved were Northwestern Mutual Investment Services LLC, Guggenheim Securities LLC, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Cambridge Investment Research Inc., Key Investment Services LLC, Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation, U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc., and The Huntington Investment Company. The penalties stem from the firms’ failure to maintain and preserve electronic communications, a violation of federal securities laws. These actions highlight the SEC’s commitment to enforcing compliance with recordkeeping requirements essential for monitoring and enforcing securities laws.

Of particular note is The Huntington Investment Company’s case, which stands out due to its self-reporting and cooperation with the SEC. As a result, Huntington was ordered to pay a lower civil penalty compared to other firms, totaling $1.25 million. This demonstrates the importance of voluntary disclosure and cooperation in regulatory investigations.

The investigations uncovered widespread use of unapproved communication methods, such as personal text messages, across all sixteen firms. Employees at various levels, including supervisors and senior managers, were involved in these violations. The failure to maintain and preserve required records potentially deprived the SEC of crucial information in various investigations.

Lickhai Quach, a Silver Spring, Maryland broker/agent of Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc., was recently barred by FINRA from association with any FINRA firm.  The FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent states that Mr. Quach refused to produce documents or information to investigators as required by FINRA Rule 8210.

Mr. Quach was allegedly under investigation by FINRA as a result of being permitted to resign “while under review by the firm for violating firm’s policy related to borrowing funds from a client.”  Mr. Quach’s FINRA Brokercheck report states that he was registered with Transamerica since 2012.  The report further states that he had one recent customer complaint relating to borrowed funds that settled, and that he was permitted to resign in March, 2023.

Registered financial advisors are generally prohibited from borrowing money from customers under FINRA Rule 3240 except in limited circumstances such as from a family member or other personal relationship.  The loan must also be disclosed and approved by the advisor’s firm.

The local Virginia Securities Fraud Lawyers of Greco & Greco are currently representing multiple Virginia customers of Richmond, Virginia based broker John Starke. These claims for investment losses have been filed in FINRA arbitration against Mr. Starke’s brokerage firm, Centaurus Financial.

As shown by Mr. Starke’s FINRA Brokercheck report, found here, in the last two years customers have filed seven complaints against Mr. Starke, most involving allegations of the sale of illiquid, unsuitable, and high-risk investments.

Alternative Investments, which include REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), are often sold as an alternative to more traditional stocks, bonds, and stock and bond funds. These higher-risk investments are often touted for their high returns, especially in a low interest rate environment, however those high returns are accompanied with corresponding high risk.

On July 25, 2023, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) against LPL Financial LLC, a prominent independent securities broker headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina. This disciplinary action followed a series of egregious violations that involved the conversion/theft of approximately $2.4 million of customer funds by two of the firm’s brokers.

Background

The AWC against LPL Financial LLC was the result of a failure to reasonably supervise the transmittal of customer funds, which enabled two firm registered representatives to convert substantial sums of money for their personal use. The findings by FINRA in the AWC are outlined below:

FINRA has announced on its website that it has barred Tennessee financial advisor D. Wray Rodgers of Collierville.  According to FINRA’s Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent, Mr. Rodgers was registered with the firm Vining-Sparks IBG, LLC, and FINRA had begun an investigation regarding “whether Rodgers engaged in an outside business activity without providing prior written notice to his member firm and whether he misused customer funds.”

Vining-Sparks had filed a U-5 filing for Mr. Rodgers stating that he had voluntarily resigned from the firm in May 2022.  According to the AWC, Mr. Rodgers failed to appear for related on the record testimony, and he and FINRA agreed to a sanction of a bar from registering with FINRA securities Broker-Dealers.

Mr. Rodgers’ FINRA Brokercheck report shows one customer complaint relating to an alleged failure to disclose risk from 2011, with a $105,000.00 settlement.

The online FINRA Brokercheck report for former Western International broker Chris Kennedy shows eleven different customer complaints.  These complaints include allegations of unauthorized trading, unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty, and other wrongful conduct.  Many of the complaints have been settled, with one settled for over 2.7 million dollars.

The Brokercheck report also states that Western International discharged Mr. Kennedy in 2021 after allegations were made about unauthorized options trading.

Mr. Kennedy was registered with Western at a branch office in Woodland Hills, California and Tarzana, California.

Former RBC and Ameriprise securities broker Scott Jay Matalon of Jericho, New York was recently barred from the industry by FINRA, a securities regulator.  The Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent states that Mr. Matalon failed to produce documents or information in response to an investigation regarding an arbitration Statement of Claim which was filed.

Mr. Matalon’s FINRA Brokercheck report lists a criminal charge, as well as a customer complaint seeking $2,500,000 in damages.  The Brokercheck description of the customer complaint references allegations of conversion of funds from the now deceased customer.

Firms that employ securities salespersons can be held liable for the conversion (theft) of customer funds even if the firm claims that its supervisors were not aware of the theft.  Please read here about broker theft and failure to supervise.  If you were a victim of a financial advisor who stole funds from your accounts or investments, please contact our securities fraud lawyers for a free consultation about your case.

Our securities fraud blog has previously addressed the risks to investors regarding inverse and leveraged ETFs.  A new type of ETF has emerged, however, which can carry even higher risks.  The North American Securities Administrators Association recently issued an advisory to investors regarding single stock ETFs.  Inverse and leveraged single stock ETFs are complex instruments which attempt to multiply the returns of a single stock when it goes up (leveraged) or down (inverse).

These investments obviously carry higher risks than if an investor just invests in a single stock, and can include similar risks to using margin to purchase more shares of a stock than you can afford with cash, or risk shorting a stock in the hope that the price declines.  Additionally, similar to inverse and leveraged ETFs that are spread over a sector of stocks, these ETFs reset daily, so if they are held for more than a day the price of the ETF can diverge significantly from the price of the underlying stock.

Financial advisors should not be recommending or purchasing these types of ETFs for retail investors unless the investor understands the risks involved and can afford to take those risks.  Such a recommendation should be suitable and in the best interest of the customer.  If you have lost monies in a single stock ETF that you did not understand or that was not suitable for your risk tolerance, please contact W. Scott Greco for a free attorney consultation about your potential case.

FINRA recently suspended an Edward Jones financial advisor from Sunset Beach, California for borrowing money from a customer without firm authorization.  The FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent against Scott P. Smith can be found here.

According to the AWC, Mr. Smith borrowed money in five different loans from a single customer without advising his firm about the loans.  Loans from customers to stock brokers are generally prohibited unless they fall into several limited exceptions such as when the customer is a family member.  The loans were allegedly discovered when the customer died and the estate raised questions about the loans.  Mr. Smith subsequently resigned from Edward Jones while under investigation.

The FINRA AWC imposed a year suspension on the financial advisor, and a $10,000 fine.

New Jersey securities broker Carz Levinski Craffey (aka Caz Craffy) was recently barred from the securities industry by securities regulator FINRA.  Mr. Craffy had been registered with Monmouth Capital Management and previously was registered with Newbridge Securities Corp.

Mr. Craffy’s Brokercheck report from FINRA discloses that he was discharged by Monmouth for failing to “disclose Outside Business Activity.”  It also states that he has one customer complaint pending with allegations of negligence, fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

The FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent states that Mr. Craffy failed to appear to testify regarding his “potential conversion of customer money, loans or gifts from customers, active trading in customer accounts, and failure to fully disclose certain outside business activities.”  He was barred from associating with any FINRA member in all capacities.

Contact Information