According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Richard Graham was accused of making unsuitable investment recommendations regarding the sale of unit investment trusts (UITs) while employed at Huntingont Investment Company. A UIT is a type of investment that represents undivided interests in a relatively fixed portfolio of securities. Many times these consist of common stock of closed-end investment companies (known as closed-end funds). UITs typically are risky and illiquid investments, not suitable for all investors. Many times they are junk bonds and these are subject to very high risk. A broker must take into account a customer’s net worth, investment objectives and age before recommending investments. If he does not, his investment firm can be liable for financial losses because of failure to supervise him.
In Graham’s case, according to his AWC, allegedly, he recommended to a customer couple who did not speak English, that they make two purchases of the Van Kampen Unit Investment Trust Closed End Strategy Master Municipal Income Portfolio Series 30 in November of 2012. The couple invested $149,994.48, and, a month later, $199,993.99. Graham was aware that the couple’s risk tolerance was “conservative” and that they had a “short” investment time horizon. They also had limited investment knowledge and sophistication. In all, the customers lost $79,297.70. On a separate occasion, Graham recommended that a 98-year-old customer invest approximately 42% of her net worth in UITs. This was highly unsuitable for a customer of her age, and she lost money in the transactions. For these transgressions, Graham was fined $10,000 and suspended from the industry for two months.
Richard Graham was registered with Woodbury Financial Services in Oakdale, Minnesota from July 2001 until October 2003, Natcity Investments in Cleveland, Ohio from October 2003 until June 2005, The Huntington Investment Company in Lafayette, Indiana from July 2005 until July 2013 and JP Morgan Securities in Indianapolis, Indiana from July 2013 until August 2016. He has seven customer disputes against him and he is not licensed within the industry, according to his online FINRA BrokerCheck report. Please call 312-332-4200 to speak to one of our attorneys today if you lost money with Richard Graham. We may be able to help you sue Huntington in the FINRA arbitration process on a contingency fee basis to recover your losses. The call is free.
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