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Silver Law Group is investigating former Feltl & Company (CRD# 6905) broker Lance J. Ziesemer (CRD# 2342087) for a plethora of filed FINRA arbitrations alleging unauthorized trading, unsuitable recommendations, and other securities misconduct, including activity involving unit investment trusts (“UITs”).

According to Ziesemer’s FINRA BrokerCheck Report, Ziesemer has 12 disclosures, a large majority of them coming in the past four years.

In November 2008, FINRA suspended and fined Ziesemer for settling with two clients and not reporting it.  FINRA alleges that Ziesemer settled quietly to purposely avoid reporting the settlements, according to the Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) entered into between Ziesemer and FINRA.

Silver Law Group is investigating Cetera Advisors (CRD# 10299) broker Daniel B. Vazquez Sr. (CRD# 3141463) after FINRA permanently barred him.

According to Vazquez’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, FINRA permanently barred him from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities to the public in June 2016 for failing to respond to a FINRA request for information.

The permanent bar comes just two months after a FINRA arbitration was filed alleging unsuitable recommendations and unauthorized trades which led to portfolio losses.  In addition to that FINRA arbitration filed in April 2016, another FINRA arbitration filed in August 2016 is currently pending.  That FINRA arbitration also alleges unsuitable recommendations and unauthorized trades in addition to misrepresentations in the amount of $107,000.

Silver Law Group is investigating Wesley Chapel, Florida-based Center Street Securities, Inc. (CRD# 26898) broker Satya Brata Shaw (CRD# 1229175) after the Florida Office of Financial Regulation opened an investigation into the broker.  Our firm is interested in speaking with you if you have worked with Shaw.

In November 2016, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation initiated an investigation into Shaw for violations of state, federal and industry rules and regulations, according to Shaw’s FINRA BrokerCheck report.

The investigation follows a string of settlements between other state regulatory bodies between 2009 and 2016.  In total, Shaw has been fined or sanctioned by six different states in a total of seven regulatory actions, according to his BrokerCheck report.

Silver Law Group is investigating former Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (CRD# 705)  broker John Nelson Crook (CRD# 2715424) after a customer filed a FINRA arbitration alleging $4.8 million in damages.

According to Crook’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, Crook’s customer filed a FINRA arbitration against Crook alleging churning/excessive trading and commissions; unauthorized trading; unsuitability; breach of fiduciary duty; fraud/intentional misrepresentation and omission; negligence/gross negligence; breach of contract; and violations of Georgia Blue Sky Law.  The FINRA arbitration alleges damages in the amount of $4.8 million.

Prior to the filing of the FINRA arbitration, Crook was discharged by Raymond James due to “loss of confidence” in Crook.  According to Crook’s BrokerCheck report, Crook was terminated because he did not respond candidly to a supervisory review of Crook’s trading activity in a customer’s account and did not provide plausible explanations for said trading activity.

Silver Law Group is investigating former Meyers Associates, L.P. (CRD# 34171) broker John E. Buonocore (CRD# 2337214) after FINRA permanently barred him amidst unsuitable recommendations and churning allegations.  This is the second Meyers Associates broker our firm has investigated at the same New York, New York location of Meyers Associates, the third one in less than six months.

According to Buonocore’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, Buonocore entered into an Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) with FINRA agreeing to a permanent bar.  According to the AWC, Buonocore refused to appear for on-the-record testimony as requested by FINRA in connection with an investigation into certain trading anomalies at his member firm which may have affected the accounts of one or more of Buonocore’s customers.

According to Buonocore’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, Buonocore has had four FINRA arbitrations filed against him.  One FINRA arbitration alleging unsuitable recommendations settled in April 2004 for $58,000.  Another FINRA arbitration alleging unsuitable recommendations and churning settled in July 2014 for $315,000.

Silver Law Group is investigating Burnham Securities, Inc. (CRD# 22549) and related entities for allegations of its role as placement agent for fraudulent tribal bonds.

In May 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a complaint against a host of individuals, including notorious securities fraudsters Jason W. Galanis and his father John P. Galanis for defrauding investors in sham Native American tribal bonds.

The Galanises main objective was to steal money for their own extravagant expenses and criminal defense costs.

FINRA fined Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. (CRD# 249) and ordered the firm to pay retribution in an amount totaling $3.4 million for failing to produce documents in discovery to customers who filed FINRA arbitrations and for not applying applicable sales charge waivers to customers.

According to the news release, FINRA found that over a span of several years, Oppenheimer failed to timely report to FINRA more than 350 required filings including securities-related regulatory findings, disciplinary actions taken by Oppenheimer against its employees, and settlements of securities-related arbitration and litigation claims.  On average, according to FINRA, Oppenheimer made these filings more than four years late.

In addition to those allegations, FINRA found that between 2010 and 2013, Oppenheimer failed to produce relevant documents during discovery to seven FINRA arbitration claimants alleging Oppenheimer failed to supervise former Oppenheimer broker Mark C. Hotton (CRD# 2346843). Oppenheimer failed to provide spreadsheets showing that Hotton had excessively traded multiple customer accounts.

FINRA reported in a news release that it fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. (CRD# 7691) $6.25 million and the firm will pay approximately $780,000 in restitution for inadequately supervising its customers’ use of leverage and  overconcentrating some of its customers in Puerto Rican bonds.

According to the Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) entered into between Merrill Lynch and FINRA, FINRA found that from January 2010 through July 2013, Merrill Lynch did not establish and maintain adequate supervisory systems and did not establish, maintain, and enforce adequate written procedures reasonable designed to ensure the suitability of transactions in certain Puerto Rico securities, namely, municipal bonds and closed-end funds.  Certain customers’ holdings were highly concentrated in Puerto Rican bonds and highly leveraged through margin.

This is not the first time a firm has been sanctioned for supervisory, concentration and margin issues related to Puerto Rican securities, municipal bonds and/or closed-end funds.  In September 2015, FINRA fined UBS Financial Services Inc. (CRD# 8174) of Puerto Rico a total of $18.5 million in fines and restitution for similar allegations.

On December 5, 2016, FINRA reported that it fined Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (CRD# 816) $16.5 million for anti-money laundering (“AML”), supervision and other violations.

According to the Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) entered into between Credit Suisse and FINRA, Credit Suisse neither admitted or denied the allegations but consented to the findings.

FINRA found that Credit Suisses’s suspicious activity monitoring program was deficient in that it relied on its registered representatives to identify and report potentially suspicious trading, including microcap transactions.  This self-regulation did not always work in practice, and high-risk activity was not always reported and investigated.

Silver Law Group has filed a claim against Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (CRD# 7059) broker Charlie Yeung (CRD# 2785343) for unsuitably recommending and overconcentrating our client in Alpha Natural Resources.

Our client doesn’t speak English and felt comfortable with Yeung because he could speak her native language.  Yeung proceeded to invest heavily in Alpha Natural Resources, an oil and gas company that has declined precipitously over the last three years and declared bankruptcy in 2015.

Our client is older, retired, and had a conservative risk profile, yet Yeung proceeded to overconcentrate our client’s money in the risky oil, gas and energy sector.  Consequentially, our client lost a majority of the investment and the value of her account.