Articles Posted in Stockbroker Misconduct

Silver Law Group is investigating former Plano, Texas-based VSR Financial Services, Inc. (CRD# 14503) broker John H. Towers (CRD# 700221) due to an extraordinarily high amount of FINRA BrokerCheck disclosures alleging unsuitable recommendations and negligence. According to John H. Towers FINRA BrokerCheck report, Towers has 46 misconduct disclosures, most of which…

Cetera Investment Services, LLC (CRD# 15340) entered into a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (“AWC”) with FINRA after the regulatory body alleged it failed to notify account owners regarding changes to their account records. According to the AWC, from October 1, 2008 through November 15, 2013, Cetera failed to…

Silver Law Group is investigating former Boca Raton, Florida-based Raymond James broker Gregory E. Barr (CRD# 1312703) after being discharged by two different firms in less than three years. Barr was most recently employed by Raymond James & Associates (CRD# 705), but most of his trouble involves his prior firm,…

Former Dakota Securities International (“Dakota”) broker Christopher R. Mcnamee (CRD# 4271195) is under investigation for recommending unsuitable investments to his customers. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) arbitration complaint, according to Mcnamee’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, alleges damages in the amount of $1 million.  Aside from unsuitable recommendations, the FINRA arbitration…

Silver Law Group is investigating Woodbury Financial Services (“Woodbury”) broker Daniel J. Dunn (CRD# 3105100) for customer complaints filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) against the broker. According to Dunn’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, there are five customer complaints against him, four of which have settled for a total…

While it has been argued by investor advocates for a long time that a fiduciary duty applies to those individuals that give investment advice to others, the Department of Labor (DOL) finally put the issue to rest with respect to retirement accounts.  After six years in the making, the DOL…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Oregon-based Aequitas Management, LLC (“Aequitas”), and several of its executives with operating a $350 million investment scheme that defrauded investors in a last-ditch effort to raise funds to save Aequitas from a complete financial collapse. Aequitas, along with CEO Robert J.…

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) BrokerCheck website, a customer filed a complaint against Teutonico (CRD# 2875434) on November 23, 2015 for excessive trading. This is the eleventh disclosure on his checkered broker report and the fifth in the last year.  Teutonico has been employed by Network 1…

After serving 10 years in prison for prior securities law violations, investment fraud orchestrator Edward Durante is back in the news for allegations of a penny stock pump-and-dump scheme. Durante was criminally charged in December 2015 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and civilly…

A grand jury of the U.S District Court in Spartanburg, S.C. indicted former broker Claus C. Foerster (CRD# 1912949) for defrauding clients of $2.8 million over a 14-year period. Foerster perpetrated the fraud from 2000 to June 2014 while employed as a financial advisor at Smith Barney & Co., Morgan…