According to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) public records, Edward Murphy, a broker with David A. Noyes & Company in Chicago, Illinois, allegedly violated securities laws. He allegedly made unsuitable unit investment trusts (UIT) trades, recommended unsuitable investments, and misrepresented material facts related to an investment. These are all against securities laws. According to BrokerCheck…
The answer is usually no. Borrowing money from clients is usually considered a violation of the securities industry rules and regulations. Despite the seriousness of this rule, brokers regularly borrow funds from clients. In some instances, when brokers get caught borrowing funds, they get terminated from their firm or even kicked out of the securities…
According to a recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Disciplinary Proceeding, Further Lane Securities allegedly charged excessive markups on 55 corporate bond transactions with customers, in violation of securities rules. The firm also allegedly failed to adequately supervise the markup activities of its registered representatives in violation of those rules. According to the Proceeding, a…
Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. is an independent producer of high-quality, specialty hydrocarbon products based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The collapse of the share price has exposed fraudulent sales practices used by brokers across many brokerage firms to jam clients into grossly unsuitable concentrations. Calumet was not the conservative income investment clients were represented. In fact,…
Seadrill Partners LLC is a limited liability company formed by Seadrill Limited (NYSE: SDRL) to own, operate and acquire offshore drilling rigs and operates as an offshore drilling contractor. The investment currently trades on the NYSE for less than $5 a share. Brokers at Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and UBS sold this investment to retail…
Stoltmann Law Offices is investigating Gerald Cipolla, a former registered adviser with PFS Investments in Rego Park, New York. Cipolla was barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) after failing to respond to an investigation. FINRA was investigating him regarding allegations of potential conversion of 4,000 shares of stock in an IPO using funds…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently fined Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. $850,000 for failing to detect the conversion of more than $370,000 from five customer brokerage accounts by one of its registered representatives. Ameriprise was accused of failing to adequately investigate red flags associated with nine third-party wire requests, including that the funds were…
There have been numerous Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) complaints against John Tinnelly, a broker with Woodstock Financial in Hawthorne, New York. These include alleged securities law violations such as unsuitable investments, unauthorized trading and churning, or excessive trading. He also was accused of breach of contract which is against securities laws. Churning is typically…
Stoltmann Law Offices is investigating Steven Schmulewitz, who was accused of violating securities laws including making unsuitable investment recommendations, unauthorized trading and churning accounts. Churning is a particularly egregious violation because it is excessive trading in a customer account, which can generate high fees for the client and large commissions for the broker. When a…
Stoltmann Law Offices is investigating Frank Auyeung, a Morgan Stanley broker in Cupertino, California. Auyeung was accused of misrepresenting and recommending unsuitable investments and of recommending volatile, unsuitable and un-diversified investments. He was also accused of overconcentrating investments. This refers to a broker’s failure to diversify a customer’s portfolio among a variety of assets. Brokers…