Bobby Coburn, Barred Broker Of Securities America, Subject Of 4 Disclosures

Bobby Coburn (CRD# 1464789) is a barred broker who formerly worked for Securities America, Inc. (CRD# 10205) in Fort Meade, FL. He previously worked for Brecek & Young Advisors (CRD# 40395), Legend Equities Corporation (CRD# 30999), Nationwide Securities (CRD# 11173), and others.

Silver Law Group represents investors in arbitration claims against Securities America, which is a subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann.

Bobby Coburn’s publicly-available FINRA BrokerCheck report lists four disclosures, including 2 customer disputes, 1 employment separation after allegations, and 1 regulatory filing barring him in all capacities.

Bobby Coburn Customer Disputes

The first customer dispute on Coburn’s record comes in 2016. The allegation states: “Customer invested $30,000 in a Costa Rica real estate development and did not receive payments due under Promissory Note.” That dispute requested $32,000 in damages and was settled for $7,000.

In 2018 a client of Coburn’s alleged that the purchase of a variable annuity wasn’t suitable and requested $5,000 in damages. The dispute was settled for $54,898.34.

Employment Separation After Allegations And Barring

In March, 2019, Coburn was discharged from Securities America, Inc. for allegations of “solicitation of multiple clients to invest in an unapproved private securities transaction and engaged in the settlement of a related customer complaint without the firm’s knowledge or consent.”

In August, 2019, Coburn was permanently barred in all capacities from associating with a FINRA member firm for refusing to provide FINRA with information and documents related to the allegations that led to him being discharged from Securities America. Coburn consented to the sanction and entry of findings without admitting or denying them.

Variable Annuity Issues

The 2018 customer dispute against Coburn regarding a variable annuity is one that Silver Law Group is familiar with. Confusion and questionable sales practices are common with variable annuities, causing them to be a leading reason for investors to complain to FINRA.

A variable annuity is a contract between an insurance company and an investor where the insurance company commits to pay the investor in the future, often at retirement. The money the investor pays can be invested in products such as mutual funds.

Variable annuities have an accumulation and a payout phase. During the accumulation phase, payments from the investor are used to purchase the investment they chose. During the payout phase, the investor gets money back in either a lump sum or a stream of payments.

Variable annuities have high fees and pay significant commissions to the financial advisors that sell them. They also have surrender charges investors must pay in order to get out of them.

In some cases, the high commissions and fees for a variable annuity are not disclosed, which can be considered an omission of material fact or misrepresentation.

Financial advisors have been known to use a practice called variable annuity switching, which is selling clients on the benefits of a new variable annuity to get the fees and commissions of the new contract. Unless there’s an economic benefit to the investor, switching is prohibited by regulators.

Variable annuity sales are regulated by FINRA and the SEC. Investors may be able to recover losses through arbitration. Silver Law Group, a law firm representing investors, has helped investors recover variable annuity losses from through arbitration.

In 2019, Scott Silver, managing partner of Silver Law Group, delivered a presentation to PIABA on how to win arbitration cases to recover losses from unsuitable annuity and life insurance recommendations.

Fired For Selling Away

The description in the disclosure that led to Coburn being discharged from Securities America said he solicited clients “to invest in an unapproved private securities transaction”. The practice of selling investments the firm has not approved is known as selling away.

Brokers engage in selling away to make themselves money. They may sell the investment to clients by pressuring them to take immediate action so they don’t miss out on the limited time opportunity and describe the investment as providing a high return with low risk.

Brokerage firms are obligated to supervise their representatives and be aware of their outside activity. If they don’t, they could face sanctions related to the “failure to supervise” rule. Although brokers solicit outside investments, it’s the firms they work who can be pursued for settlements because they are responsible for their activity.

It’s not known exactly what unapproved private securities transaction led to Coburn being fired, but his BrokerCheck report lists him as owner of insurance sales company Born To Retire in Fort Meade, FL.

Did You Invest With Bobby Coburn or Securities America?

If you have investment losses with Bobby Coburn or Securities America, please contact Scott Silver of the Silver Law Group at ssilver@silverlaw.com or toll free at (800) 975-4345 to discuss options to recover your losses.

Silver Law Group represents investors in securities and investment fraud. Our attorneys represent investors nationwide to help recover investment losses due to stockbroker misconduct. Most cases are handled on a contingent fee basis, meaning that there is no charge to retain us. Contact us today and let us know how we can help.