VSR Financial Services Broker John Howard Towers Barred by FINRA

A former VSR Financial Services broker, John Howard Towers, was barred from the industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He also owned a precious metals brokerage since 1973. Towers previously entered into a FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) pursuant to which he was suspended for three months and fined $25,000. He allegedly recommended that a married couple invest $6,259,400 in high-risk private placements and real estate investment trusts (REITs) which represented approximately 72% of the investments purchased through VSR Financial Services. All of the private placements and REITs recommended by Towers were found to be high-risk investments, not suitable for the couple. The couple also allegedly told Towers that they were not comfortable with the stock market and its volatility and that, under no circumstances was Towers to concentrate their portfolio in high-risk private placements and REITs. Towers also doctored their statements for the private placements and REITs, by manually altering the values of the stocks, when he was aware that the investments had declined.

Towers was registered with Independent Financial Planners, Waddell & Reed, Somerset Equities Corp, Anchor National Financial Services, Prderential Brokerage Inc., Integrated Resources Equity Corp, U.S. Advisors Inc., Darand/Pennington/Bass Inc., Dominion Capital Corp, Northstar Securities, Rushmore Securities and VSR Financial Servicces in Plano, Texas from June 2002 until December 2013. According to his online BrokerCheck report, he has 35 customer disputes against him, seven of which are currently pending. He is not licensed within the industry and has been permanently barred. Please call our securities law offices today if you or someone you know has been a victim of Towers. We may be able to help you bring a claim against VSR in the FINRA arbitration forum to help you recover your money losses. 312-332-4200.