Securities Arbitration Lawyers Blog

According to FINRA Disciplinary actions for May 2016, the following individuals were suspended from FINRA for failing to comply with a FINRA arbitration award or settlement agreement pursuant to FINRA rules:

Silver Law Group represents investors in securities and investment fraud cases through FINRA arbitration or court.  Our lawyers are admitted to practice in New York and Florida and represent investors nationwide in securities arbitration to help recover investment losses due to stockbroker misconduct.  If you have any questions about how your account has been handled, call to speak with an experienced securities attorney. Most cases handled on a contingent fee basis meaning that you do not pay legal fees unless we are successful.

According to FINRA Disciplinary actions for May 2016, the following individuals were suspended from FINRA and cannot currently work for a FINRA brokerage firm for failing to provide FINRA with information it requested or to keep information current with FINRA pursuant to FINRA rules:

Silver Law Group represents investors in securities and investment fraud cases through FINRA arbitration or court.  Our lawyers are admitted to practice in New York and Florida and represent investors nationwide in securities arbitration to help recover investment losses due to stockbroker misconduct.  If you have any questions about how your account has been handled, call to speak with an experienced securities attorney. Most cases handled on a contingent fee basis meaning that you do not pay legal fees unless we are successful.

According to FINRA Disciplinary actions for May 2016, the following individuals were barred from FINRA and cannot currently work for a FINRA brokerage firm for failing to provide FINRA with information it requested or to keep information current with FINRA pursuant to FINRA rules:

Silver Law Group represents investors in securities and investment fraud cases through FINRA arbitration or court.  Our lawyers are admitted to practice in New York and Florida and represent investors nationwide in securities arbitration to help recover investment losses due to stockbroker misconduct.  If you have any questions about how your account has been handled, call to speak with an experienced securities attorney. Most cases handled on a contingent fee basis meaning that you do not pay legal fees unless we are successful.

It was about three years ago that the Florida Legislature adopted the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act (“RUAA”), a revised code that was intended to clarify the arbitration process and promote various requirements of due process.  Among many issues the revision addresses, attorneys’ fees changes were one of the most significant, especially to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) arbitrations.

Typically, the American rule of law does not automatically grant the winning side its attorneys’ fees.  According to FINRA’s Basic Arbitrator Training, arbitrators can award attorneys’ fees when:

1. the parties’ contract includes a clause that provides for attorneys’ fees; or

Two former pro athletes, one from the NBA and the other the NFL, won an $819,000 FINRA arbitration award against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (“Morgan Stanley”) after Morgan Stanley allegedly failed to supervise a former broker.

Keyon Dooling, a first-round pick, played in the NBA for 12 seasons. John St. Clair, a former offensive tackle, played in the NFL for 11 seasons.  Their broker was Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Aaron Parthemer (CRD# 2546369), and the misconduct occurred while Parthemer was employed by Morgan Stanley.

According to an InvestmentNews report, Parthemer convinced Dooling and St. Clair to invest in Global Village Concerns, a sportswear company, while only convincing Mr. Dooling to invest in Club Play, a Miami Beach nightclub.  According to the report, the investments became worthless.

Real estate finance company United Development Funding (“UDF”) publicly speaks nearly three months after an FBI raided its headquarters in February 2016.

In a news release, UDF said a board-authorized probe into its inner workings by an outside law firm UDF hired found no evidence of fraud or misconduct on the part of the trust, its management, or its advisor.  Silver Law Group has been monitoring the situation since March.

The news comes in light of heavy fire the real estate finance company has come under going back to 2015.  In December 2015, Hayman Capital Management principal Kyle Bass, anonymously at the time, posted a report and letter enumerating UDF business red flags and alleging it was being run like a Ponzi scheme.

Silver Law Group is investigating West Palm Beach, Florida-based RBC Capital Markets (“RBC”) broker Samuel K. Koltun (CRD# 1739664) for customer complaints alleging he unsuitably recommended and overconcentrated their portfolio in Puerto Rico bonds and failed to disclose the risks associated with such an investment.

Koltun has six misconduct disclosures on his Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) BrokerCheck report, of which three have been reported in the past eight months.  The three most recent complaints all allege overconcentration in Puerto Rico bonds.

This isn’t Koltun’s first encounter with trouble, though, according to the report.  FINRA suspended Koltun in 2004 for unsuitable recommendations he made to customers.