California Kestra Broker Tom Puentes Investigation

Silver Law Group is investigating California-based Kestra Investment Services, LLC (CRD# 42046) broker Tom A. Puentes (CRD# 1713812) amidst 23 disclosures on his FINRA BrokerCheck report.

According to Puentes’ FINRA BrokerCheck report, Puentes has a total of 23 disclosures, with 15 settling for over $750,000. A large majority of the settled claims allege unauthorized and unsuitable transactions in Puerto Rican municipal bonds.

Puentes’ actions concerning the settlements occurred while he was employed by Morgan Stanley (CRD# 149777). Morgan Stanley discharged Puentes in October 2014 over allegations against Puentes over his use of discretionary trading without written authorization.

Further, in October 2016, FINRA entered into an Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) with Puentes in which he consented to the findings that Puentes exercised time and price discretion in at least 14 customer accounts to purchase municipals bonds on approximately 220 occasions. As part of the AWC, FINRA fined Puente $15,000 and suspended him for 30 days.

Morgan Stanley employed Puentes from June 2009 to November 2014 in its Langley, Washington office. Kestra currently employs Puentes.

Puentes does business at Kestra under the moniker Langley Pacific Partners in Woodland Hills, California. According to Puentes’ website, he works with clients in fixed income markets.

Unauthorized trading occurs when a broker makes transactions for a customer without the customer’s permission of authorization. Unauthorized trading is a common investor issue, according to FINRA and is prohibited per FINRA Rule 2010. Even profitable unauthorized trading can result in regulatory exposure.

FINRA arbitration is a fast, efficient way to recover your lost investment funds due to unauthorized trading. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay us nothing unless we win and recover money for you.

If you have invested with Tom A. Puentes and Kestra Investment Services or Morgan Stanley and have lost money doing so, you may be able to recover some or all of your losses. Our lawyers are experienced in recovering investor losses due to broker and brokerage firm misconduct through FINRA arbitration.

Silver Law Group represents the interests of investors who have been the victims of investment fraud. If you have questions about your legal rights, please contact Scott Silver of the Silver Law Group for a free consultation at ssilver@silverlaw.com or toll free at (800) 975-4345.