A National Securities Arbitration & Investment Fraud Law Firm
Mack L. Miller
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Silver Law Group is investigating New York, New York-based former Dawson James Securities Broker Mack L. Miller after multiple clients filed FINRA complaints alleging misrepresentation and excessive trading in client accounts.
Silver Law Group is investigating former Jericho, New York Ridgeway & Conger, Inc. (CRD# 113055) Kenley Brisard (CRD# 2641960) after FINRA permanently barred the broker.
According to Brisard’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, FINRA permanently barred Brisard.
According to Brisard’s BrokerCheck report, in January 2016 Brisard was named a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging that he sold an unregistered security. FINRA found that Brisard sold unsuitable investments at undisclosed markups of 14-33 percent using general solicitation emails that fraudulently misrepresented the product and the respondent’s role in its development.
Clay Hoffman, who has been working in the financial services industry since 2001, has seven customer complaints against him, four pending complaints, several disputes, and was been terminated by Suntrust Investment Services after the firm conducted a review of his client account transactions. Hoffman was employed with SunTrust from 2007 to 2013. His employment history also includes working for Merrill Lynch in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and for Edward Jones in both Tifton, Georgia and St. Louis, Missouri.
According to FINRA, Hoffman is accused of:
In November 2015, James Michael Johnson agreed to FINRA sanctions and the entry of findings that he made negligent misrepresentations and omissions regarding securities investments to customers of his member firm without the firm’s knowledge.
Johnson allegedly approached firm customers, a married couple, offering them a 10-percent interest in a land development company in West Virginia. The company, West Virginia Farm Properties, LLC (WVFP) was formed to develop rural land into a residential neighborhood. In his discussion with the couple, he led them to believe:
James Edward Rooney Jr., of Carrollton, Texas, was fined by FINRA a total of $75,000, suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for a total of two years and was suspended in any supervisory capacity for 18 months. FINRA alleges that Rooney engaged in private securities transactions involving installment contracts without providing prior written notice his member firm. The findings stated that Rooney recommended the installment contract to his client without a reasonable basis for believing it to be a suitable investment. Rooney allegedly did not conduct a reasonable investigation into the company offering the installment plan contracts or the contracts themselves. Rooney sold the product expecting to receive a commission. The findings also stated that Rooney made negligent misrepresentations of material fact to the customer. Although Rooney may not have known that his representations regarding the organization and the features of the contract were false, a simple investigation would have uncovered numerous red flags. Rooney also presented oversimplified, incomplete and misleading sales materials to his customer when soliciting the installment contract. The findings also included that Rooney failed to adequately supervise other registered representative’s sales of the installment contracts. (FINRA Case #2009019042402)
If you invested money with James Edward Rooney Jr., you may be entitled to recover some of your investment losses. Please call our securities law firm toll free at (800) 975-4345 to speak to an attorney to find out how we may be able to help you recover some of your investment losses through FINRA arbitration.
Peter Michael Terlecky III, of Grand Island, New York, was named a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging that he circumvented his member firm’s supervisory and compliance procedures by concealing and failing to process variable annuity purchase transactions totaling approximately $2.3 million as annuity replacement trades, even though each purchase was funded by the sale of a fixed or variable annuity. Mr. Terlecky was registered with Princor Financial Services from 1992 through August 2011 and is currently registered with MML Investors Services, LLC. The complaint alleges that Terlecky concealed the variable annuity replacements from his firm’s supervisory review by structuring them as separate trades through a two-step process, rather than through annuity exchanges. Terlecky accomplished this by transferring the sale proceeds from the replaced annuity to a firm brokerage (money market) account and then, after waiting a short period, usually seven days or less, used the funds in the brokerage account to purchase the new variable annuity. Terlecky prepared and submitted new account forms and annuity documents to the firm for each of the variable annuity replacements containing numerous misrepresentations and items of false information that further disguised the true nature of these transactions. Terlecky earned greater commissions and avoided supervisory scrutiny by circumventing firm procedures and concealing the annuity replacements. Conversely, the customers allegedly suffered harm as a result of this misconduct by, among other things, being deprived of receiving firm-mandated disclosures of material facts regarding annuity replacements and the opportunity of performing a meaningful comparison between the annuities they were selling and those they were considering for purchase, and, in some instances, unnecessarily incurring new seven year surrender periods with their replacement variable annuities. (FINRA Case #2011029089201)
Investors who have suffered losses through the sale of variable annuities and non-traded REITsmay be able recover their losses through arbitration. The attorneys at Silver Law Group are experienced in representing investors in cases against brokerage firms for violations of the sales of these complex or high commission products. We primarily represent investors on a contingent fee basis and, in most cases, we will agree to advance any costs.
Bradley Claus, of Castle Rock, Colorado, was named a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging that he participated in private securities transactions with three investors, in an oil and gas company, without receiving authorization from his member firm. The complaint alleges that the firm did not permit Claus to solicit or sell investments in the private securities transaction of the oil and gas company. The complaint also alleges that Claus made material misstatements of fact to a customer in emails regarding a potential investment. Claus knew or was reckless in not knowing that his statements were false or misleading. Claus’ firm did not offer or authorize him to solicit or sell the investments. Claus was previously registered with World Group Securities. FINRA further alleges that Claus avoided his firm’s supervisory system and procedures by using an unauthorized outside email account. Despite the firm’s prohibition, Claus routinely used the personal outside email account to conduct securities business. Claus improperly used the firm’s name, firm address and firm phone number in emails from his outside email account. Claus never notified the firm of this email account and prevented his firm from supervising his communications with the public from that email account. (FINRA Case #2012033520801)
If you invested money with Bradley Claus, you may be entitled to recover some of your investment losses. Oil and gas investments can be very speculative and is not suitable for all investors. Many oil and gas investments have collapsed in recent months exposing investors to large losses. Please call our securities law firm toll free at (800) 975-4345 to speak to an attorney to find out how we may be able to help you recover some of your investment losses.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has obtained a federal court Order imposing $44 million in sanctions against Robert J. Andres of Houston, TX; his company, Winsome Investment Trust (“Winsome”); Robert L. Holloway of San Diego, CA; and his company, US Ventures LC (“US Ventures”); for fraud in operating a commodities futures pool. The sanction includes a civil monetary penalty of over $32 million as well as a restitution award of $12 million to be paid to defrauded investors. The Order also imposes upon the individuals and companies a permanent trading and registration ban.
According to the Order entered by the Honorable Bruce S. Jenkins of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Andres and Winsome (from May 2005 through November 2008) fraudulently solicited and accepted over $50 million from investors who were told that they would be investing in a commodity futures pool operated by Holloway and US Ventures. To garner the investors’ funds, Andres and Winsome purportedly made false statements claiming that the investment program had a successful track record and that each investor would be guaranteed a return of his/her principal plus profits. The Court found those representations to be false, as Holloway and US Ventures’ futures trading actually suffered nearly $11 million in net losses.
The Court went on to conclude that the defendants misappropriated the majority of participant funds to pay investors false “profits” in a manner akin to a Ponzi scheme and that the defendants used investor funds for other improper purposes, such as providing money to Andres’ wife, funding Holloway’s and his wife’s lavish personal expenses (houses, cars, jewelry, etc.), and investing in various unrelated and undisclosed businesses including a business Holloway’s wife ran on eBay. The Court Order explained that Andres and Holloway attempted to conceal the fraud by directing employees to falsify participants’ account records and to falsely represent to investors that the pool funds were trading profitably with virtually no losses during the relevant period.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) continued its onslaught against Scott Rothstein associates earlier this month when it filed suit in federal court against Barry R. Bekkedam (“Bekkedam”), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of investment advisory firm Ballamor Capital Management (“Ballamor”). The SEC suit follows a growing number of SEC actions against individuals and corporations accused of providing investor funds and assistance to convicted South Florida Ponzi-schemer Scott Rothstein.
The SEC alleges that Bekkedam, through Ballamor, solicited his clients and other prospective investors to invest $100 million into the Banyon Income Fund (“Banyon Fund’”), an enormous hedge fund that primarily financed Rothstein’s Ponzi-scheme operations. The Banyon Fund was created by Bekkedam and Rothstein investor George Levin to solicit additional funds for Rothstein and, the SEC alleges, bolster Ballamor’s business and protect Levin’s multi-million dollar investments with Rothstein.
In seeking disgorgement and civil penalties against Bekkedam, the SEC details allegations of Bekkedam’s material misstatements and omissions to his customers in connection with the Banyon Fund, as well as misrepresentations about his dealings with George Levin, which the SEC alleges were quid pro quo for Bekkedam’s securing investments in the Banyon Fund. The SEC also alleges numerous securities law violations.
UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico has come under the scrutiny of a leading bond market commentator, The Bond Buyer in yesterday’s article titled, UBS Puerto Rico Faces Surge in Arbitration Claims. Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch’s credit ratings agencies downgraded Puerto Rico’s general obligation bonds to junk bond status, which is below the investment grade status given to most U.S. municipal bonds. The downgrade was predicted by UBS Financial Services’ (UBS) recent report Municipal Brief: Puerto Rico Credit & Market Update dated January 29, 2104. This prediction came long after UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico branch offices mobilized its sales force with a targeted marketing campaign to sell the UBS Puerto Rico Family of Funds to investors. A market revelation that is too late for those Puerto Rico investors’ whose portfolios are now heavily laden with UBS’ proprietary closed-end funds geographically concentrated in Puerto Rico bonds.
As mentioned in our previous blog post, “The removal of Puerto Rico municipal bonds from the universe of ‘investment grade’ municipal bonds could potentially result in increased sell orders from municipal bond portfolio managers driving prices lower.” Further price declines in Puerto Rico municipal bonds has already occurred and the effects for many UBS closed-end funds, including UBS Puerto Rico Fixed Income Funds and UBS Puerto Rico Investors Tax Free Funds, has been an average drop in many of the funds’ net asset values (NAV) of another 5% since the announced credit ratings downgrades.
Scott L. Silver, managing partner of Silver Law Group, has brought clarity to many Puerto Rico investors who have contacted his law firm. These investors have a better understanding of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) securities arbitration process. The bond buyer reported, “his firm has filed about three dozen claims for FINRA arbitration in the past several weeks.” According to the Bond Buyer interview Mr. Silver pointed out that FINRA “rules require dealers to supervise the activities in customer accounts” and said “his clients’ losses may be attributed to a failure by UBS to supervise their financial advisors.”
Securities Arbitration Lawyers Blog