According to a recent article from Reuters, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has ruled in favor of an investor who invested in Auction Rate Securities with Oppenheimer & Co. before that market failed in 2008. The panel reportedly ruled that the investor “was entitled to “recission of $5.98 million in New Jersey [...]
Elevation, LLC, a FINRA registered broker-dealer based in Charlotte, North Carolina, recently submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $10,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it commenced an options business, engaged [...]
Corby Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA registered broker-dealer based in Boston, Massachusetts recently submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured, fined $100,000 and required to certify to FINRA in writing within 30 days of the issuance of the AWC that it currently has in place systems and procedures [...]
Did you lose money in a promissory note investment sold to you by Alternative Wealth Strategies? If so, The White Law Group may be able to help. FINRA recently announced that Alternative Wealth Strategies was censured and fined $75,000, which includes the disgorgement of $40,000 in commissions, relating to FINRA’s findings that the firm negligently [...]
Institutional Capital Management, Inc., a FINRA registered broker-dealer based in Houston, Texas, recently submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was fined $65,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that the firm permitted registered persons assigned to [...]
The USA Today recently ran a story in which they gave some tips on diligently selecting a financial advisor and encouraged investors to conduct research and ask questions prior to selecting one. Their article notes that in today’s investment environment where Ponzi Schemes and other frauds are plentiful, there are simple things that investors can [...]
According to a recent article in the investmentnews.com, John Hancock “has pulled back on its annuity distribution and expects to withdraw an array of fixed, variable and immediate annuities.” Included amongst the annuity cuts are John Hancock’s Venture 4 Series, 7 series and Frontier variable annuities. One of the key reasons John Hancock is decreasing [...]
According to a recent investmentnews.com article the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) “is warning firms about the use of designations implying special expertise in working with older investors.” FINRA performed a survey in 2011 about the use of “senior designations.” They surveyed 157 firms that varied in terms of “size, location, product mix and business [...]
A recent article by Bruce Kelly of the investmentnews.com reports on how nontraded business development companies (BDC’s) are becoming more popular by “Meeting investors’ demand for yield and corporate borrowers’ thirst for capital” and that as a vehicle increasing in popularity, it is also “drawing the attention of securities regulators.” Kelly notes that only 5 [...]
According to a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) press release, “it has fined Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC $1 million and ordered $371,000 in restitution and interest to customers for excessive markups and markdowns charged to customers on corporate and municipal bond transactions, and related supervision violations.” The issues that [...]