First Standard Financial Company

First Standard Financial Company, LLC is an independent broker-dealer licensed in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Based in Red Bank, NJ, the company has been registered with the SEC and FINRA since 2014, and is owned by Carl Standard and Co. Holdings LLC.

First Standard’s publicly-available FINRA BrokerCheck report lists 1 disclosure, a regulatory event in 2017. It was alleged by the Arkansas securities commissioner that First Standard “failed to promptly provide documents requested by the state’s staff on two occasions. The firm did not get supporting documents from the RR’s and the RR’s were withdrawn from the state.” The company resolved the allegation by paying a $10,000 fine.

Laurence Torres was permanently barred by FINRA

In 2016 a customer of Laurence Torres filed a claim alleging churning, unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud. The customer requested $99,999 in damages and settled for $50,000.

• Christopher Marnelego was barred by FINRA
• James Schwartz was barred by FINRA
• Gabriel Block was barred by FINRA
• William Christian Gennity was permanently barred by FINRA

William Christian Gennity (CRD#: 4913490, aka “Billy Christian Gennity”) is a former registered broker whose last known employer was First Standard Financial Company LLC (CRD#: 168340) of Staten Island, NY.

Gennity is the subject of twelve disclosures dating back to 2014, eight of which are customer disputes, two closed with no actions. Four of these are regulatory/civil matters involving the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the State of Montana, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Association (FINRA), barring him from any and all association with broker-dealers and acting as a broker or in any other capacity.

Gennity was first sanctioned by the State of Montana on 8/2/2016 after allegations of “excessive trading; unauthorized trading; unauthorized use of margin; discretionary trading without authorization; unsuitable recommendation; charging excessive fees; fraud.” There were no sanctions issued with this order.

On 9/28/2017, the SEC received a judgment against Gennity which included an injunction and disgorgement of a total of $127,686.03, plus other monetary penalties. The SEC’s complaint alleged that Gennity, along with another individual at Alexander Capital, made unsuitable recommendations, made material omissions and misrepresentations, engaged in unauthorized trading and churning, and operated multiple customer accounts at a loss, totaling $683,038.

FINRA subsequently sent two letters requesting information to Gennity, followed by two letters of suspension on 12/27/2018, and 01/22/2019. On April 1/2019, FINRA barred him from association with any broker-dealer in any capacity after he failed to respond and failed to request a termination of his suspension.

On 3/4/2019, the SEC also barred Gennity from association with “association with a broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent, or NRSRO.” Gennity responded that he was filing a Wells Submission in response to the allegations.

Gennity’s two current customer disputes have similar allegations of unsuitable/excess trading, churning, unauthorized trading with damages totaling $470,198. Dated 2/15/2019 and 12/3/2018, both are currently “pending.”

He was also named in a previous customer dispute, filed on 4/16/2018, which named First Standard Financial and another individual for breach of fiduciary duty, failure to supervise, unsuitability and unauthorized trading. The company and other individual were dropped from the action, and the client pursued his case against William Gennity. The FINRA arbitration panel ultimately awarded the client $2,404,376.97 in compensatory damages, 3% annual interest from April 16, 2018, to the date of the award (5/14/2019), as well as 5% annual interest from the service date of the award through the date it is paid in full. Three previously settled cases were filed on 8/27/2014, 11/8/2016, and 7/10/2017, similarly alleging churning, unauthorized and breach of fiduciary duty. Requested damages in all three cases total $241, 246.98, and awards totaling $101,929.52. Gennity denies the allegations in all three cases.

Silver Law Group is a nationally recognized securities and investment fraud law firm with Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ “AV” rated lawyers that handle all securities arbitration matters on a contingency fee basis. The Law Firm, at no cost to investors will review account activity and account statements to determine whether there was any misconduct, whether there are damages and the legal causes of action. We investigate all sales practice violations, while taking into consideration the investor’s age, investment background, and the relationship between the investor and the brokerage firm and its financial advisor. According to securities industry rules and regulations, unsuitable investment advice, securities concentration, fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions of material facts, breach of fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, variable annuity switching are among the causes of action that may be available to investors in claims for damages against brokerage firms and their financial advisors in a securities arbitration claim filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). We represent investors in FINRA arbitration claims on a contingency fee basis.

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