A National Securities Arbitration & Investment Fraud Law Firm
James J. Mariani (CRD #2932631) is a currently registered broker with Aegis Capital Corp. (CRD #15007) of Bayside, New York. He has been with Aegis for less than one year. His previous employers include:
Centaurus Financial has been the recipient of multiple FINRA actions, including 11 regulatory events and 8 reported arbitration claims. Not all of these are major issues, but they could be relevant to an investor doing business with Centaurus.
The SEC has strict rules about how a broker-dealer operates, runs their business and keeps records; any variation from these rules can trigger a sanction or other regulatory process. Centaurus has been the subject of multiple sanctions for various infractions and disputes filed by customers. For these regulatory sanctions, the company has paid $532,156.62 in penalties, fines and fees over the years. In some cases, there were no financial products involved or sold, only regulatory violations.
Centaurus has paid out $3,064,930.66 in securities arbitration awards and judgments.
Phillip Johnson was assessed by FINRA a deferred fine of $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in all capacities for three months. Without admitting or denying the findings, Johnson, a previous advisor with SunTrust Investment Services and DH Hill Securities, consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he borrowed $528,000 from a customer, but failed to notify or obtain written approval of the loan in advance from his member firm. The findings stated that Johnson made an inaccurate statement on firm compliance questionnaires related to borrowing from a firm customer. The brokerage firm did not permit loans between registered persons and customers who were not close family members. Johnson and the customer are not family members.
If you invested with Phillip Johnson and believe you have lost money due to his misconduct, you may be able to file a claim to recover your losses through FINRA arbitration. For a free evaluation of your potential case by as securities attorney, please contact Silver Law Group. Stockbrokers are in a unique position of trust and are rarely allowed to borrow money from clients.
Scott Silver was happy to address a packed room of accomplished class action and mass tort lawyers to discuss securities and investment fraud cases and handling FINRA arbitration claims. HB Litigation Conferences is a leading conference coordinator and coordinated a unique conference in the NASDAQ building in Times Square. Scott’s talk focused on elder financial fraud cases, representing investors in securities or FINRA arbitration claims and potential future stockbroker misconduct cases. As a recognized leader in securities arbitration, Scott is a passionate investor advocate, a proponent of improving the FINRA arbitration process and primarily represents investors in securities arbitration claims.
Silver Law Group is one of New York City’s top law firms for representing investors in securities and FINRA arbitration claims. Our attorneys have years of experience and are admitted to practice in Florida and New York representing investors nationwide. If you need a speaker on securities and investment fraud matters, please contact Scott Silver at ssilver@silverlaw.com and visit us at www.silverlaw.com.
The Silver Law Group in collaboration with the Law Firm of David Chase recently filed a FINRA arbitration claim on behalf of a legally blind 86-year old customer against Moloney Securities Co. and its broker, Joseph Weinrich, which alleges counts of unsuitability, unauthorized trading and churning, and seeks the recovery of his investment losses.
The arbitration complaint alleges that, over the course of at least a five-year period, Weinrich made unsuitable investment recommendations, including oil and gas master limited partnerships, inconsistent with his elderly customer’s financial situation and stated investment goals, which caused significant account losses. The complaint further alleges that Weinrich excessively traded or “churned” the account, which was on margin, to improperly generate significant fees and commissions, and engaged in unauthorized trading. Due to Weinrich’s misconduct, and Moloney Securities Co.’s failure to reasonably supervise, as alleged by the complaint, the customer suffered losses of over $450,000, and paid significant commissions and margin interest.
Unauthorized trading occurs when a stockbroker facilitates a transaction without the permission of the customer in a non-discretionary account.
Silver Law Group continues to investigate investments in oil, gas, and energy companies made by clients through master limited partnerships (“MLPs”) at the recommendation of their brokers. As a result of high oil prices over the past few years, there has been a heightened interest in investments in oil and gas using MLPs. Now with the drop in the price of oil and gas, investors who may have been looking for conservative investments without significant risk are facing substantial drops in their portfolios. Investors are further discovering that conflicts of interest between the investment bank, trading desk, and individual advisor influenced stockbroker’s recommendations.
These alternative investments in oil and gas typical take the form of Master Limited Partnerships (“MLPs”). These types of alternative investments have historically been extremely risky investments that demand a careful suitability analysis and due diligence by financial processionals before they are recommended to the public. More often than not, broker-dealers and brokers are enamored with these types of investments because they, like other alternative investments, also tend to pay high commissions.
In a recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) arbitration proceeding, RBC Capital Markets and its broker Bruce Cameron were ordered to pay a former client $723,000 for losses sustained from investing in MLPs. The claims included overconcentration in unsuitable investments (MLPs), negligence, and failure to supervise. Cameron was registered with the RBC Massachusetts office.
The New Jersey Bureau of Securities has levied a large fine against LPL Financial LLC, one of the largest independent broker-dealer in the United States. The $950,000 fine also requires LPL to donate $25,000 to the New Jersey state investor education fund. The Bureau of Securities imposed these judgments against LPL for allegedly conducting unsuitable sales of non-traded real estate investment trusts and business development companies.
The Bureau on its settlement with LPL states; “This substantial settlement with LPL Financial sends a message that the securities industry cannot sell unsuitable investments to clients who are unlikely to be able to bear the financial risks,” said Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino. “The standards governing sales of alternative investments are in place to protect investors, and the Bureau will take action when these standards are ignored.”
Generally, Federal statues regulate suitability standards and limit the sale of certain alternative investments based on a complex calculation that reflects a client’s liquid net worth, or a mixture of a client’s income and net worth and other factors. New Jersey also limits the maximum total ratio of alternative investments held by an individual client’s portfolio to not exceed 10 percent of an investor’s complete portfolio.
Silver Law Group is currently investigating former New York-based Salomon Whitney Financial broker Shawn E. Burns for three pending FINRA arbitrations.
Silver Law Group is investigating former Texas-based IMS Securities, INC (CRD#35567) broker Jackie D Wadsworth (CRD#2342163 ) for five pending FINRA arbitrations and a litany of disclosures on her FINRA BrokerCheck report.
According to Wadworths’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, she has five pending FINRA arbitrations filed in the past that allege unsuitable recommendations, failure to supervise, fraud, breach of duty of loyalty, and negligence for an aggregate amount of over $7.1 million.
FINRA’s BrokerCheck tool is a valuable way to examine a broker’s background. The investor tool discloses FINRA arbitrations that have been settled, are pending or have been denied; bankruptcies, civil judgments and tax liens, employment separations and other discharges, criminal proceedings, and regulatory actions. According to an InvestmentNews report, only about 12 percent of financial advisors have any type of disclosure events on their records.
In order to become licensed, one of the things a broker has to do is agree to adhere to the rules and regulations established by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). One of these rules involves the borrowing of money from clients, and on this matter FINRA is very clear.
Among other stipulations, FINRA Rule 3240 says that unless the person is an immediate family member or a firm has specific written procedures about borrowing and lending, then it constitutes a violation.
Securities Arbitration Lawyers Blog