Former Morgan Stanley Broker Under Investigation After FINRA Bars Him for Failing to Comply With a Settlement Agreement

Silver Law Group is investigating former New York-based Morgan Stanley (CRD# 149777) broker Scott P. Alcus (CRD# 2983730) after FINRA barred him for failing to comply with an arbitration award or settlement agreement or to satisfactorily respond to a FINRA request to provide information concerning the status of compliance.

According to Alcus’s FINRA BrokerCheck Report, Alcus was barred in May 2014 when Alcus failed to respond to a FINRA inquiry for information.  But, more recently, FINRA further sanctioned Alcus on September 2016 when he failed to comply with a settlement agreement or arbitration award.

Alcus has four other disclosures on his BrokerCheck report.  Two of the disclosures, both filed in November 2013, were FINRA arbitrations that settled.  The first alleged unauthorized transactions made in Alcus’s client’s account and settled for $10 million.  The second alleged unsuitable recommendations in addition to unauthorized trading and settled for $350,000.

Alcus currently has two other FINRA arbitrations pending.  The first one that is pending was filed in November 2013, shortly after the two settled FINRA arbitrations, and alleges unauthorized trading, churning, and unsuitable recommendations that caused injury to Alcus’s client in the amount of $228,000.  The second pending FINRA arbitration, filed in February 2016, alleges churning and damages in the amount of $228,000.

Alcus was employed by Morgan Stanley from 2009 to 2013.

Churning occurs when a broker purchases and sells securities in a customer’s account with the sole intention of generating commissions.  For churning to occur, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), the broker may have been granted discretionary trading authority by the customer and abused that authority.

Churning can be evident by frequent purchases and sales of securities that don’t appear necessary to fulfill the customer’s investment goals.  Sometimes, it does not require a great deal of turnover.  For example, municipal bonds that are typically held longer term or until maturity might be illegally churned with only one or two turnovers.  Churning is illegal and violates SEC and FINRA rules.

If you believe your broker has churned your account and you have been the victim of securities fraud, we may be able to recover your lost money and/or the excessive commissions charged to you through FINRA arbitration.  There is no fee unless we recover.

If you have invested with Scott P. Alcus and 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.