The White Law Group, LLC, a South Florida securities fraud, broker fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection and Chapter 7 bankruptcy law firm based in Boca Raton, Florida.

Posts tagged ‘Wells Fargo’

Chicago Securities Fraud / Investment Fraud Lawyer

Chicago Securities Fraud / Investment Fraud Attorney

Are you seeking to recover investment losses incurred as a result of the fraud or negligence of your financial professional or brokerage firm?  The White Law Group may be able to help.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions.

The White Law Group exclusively represents investors seeking to recover investment losses incurred as a result of the fraud or negligence of their financial professional or broker-dealer.  We review investment fraud cases involving all FINRA registered broker-dealers and have handled cases against most of the major broker-dealers, including Morgan Stanley, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Banc of America, Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, UBS, Edward Jones, Raymond James, Securities America, Royal Alliance, RBC Capital and Ameriprise.

The securities cases we review often involve some form of the following type of securities fraud:  unsuitability, churning (or excessive trading), unauthorized trading, failure to execute, improper use of margin, and overconcentration (holding off an inordinately large position of one investment).

We review tons of securities cases per year involving all manner and scope of securities frauds, but it seems that many of the cases that we review often involve the same general types of investment products.  Interestingly, these investment products are also the same products that pay financial advisors the highest commission.  The investment products that we most see being abused in reviewing securities fraud cases are cases involving REITs, variable annuities and variable universal life policies, Promissory Notes, Tenants-In-Common (TICs), and mutual funds (particularly proprietary mutual funds – when a brokerage firm pushes its own mutual funds (i.e. a UBS financial advisor recommending UBS mutual funds)).

To speak to an experienced securities attorney, please call The White Law Group at 312-238-9650.  For more information on the firm, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

FINRA Suspends North Miami Beach Financial Advisor Stephen Alan Jaffe

FINRA recently announced that it has suspended North Miami Beach, Florida financial advisor Stephen Alan Jaffe from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for one month. Without admitting or denying the findings, Jaffe consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he was the broker of record for a customer’s non-discretionary account at his FINRA member firm and exercised discretion in the customer’s account in multiple transactions without written authorization. The findings further stated that Jaffe completed annual certifications for his firm, in which he attested that he had not exercised full or partial trading authorizations over any client account without having obtained the required approvals.

Unless a brokerage account is specifically set up as discretionary (with agreements indicating that the client understands that the financial advisor has authority to direct the trading in the account), stockbrokers are required to speak to the client prior to every transaction. Failure to do so is a violation of FINRA rules.

According to his FINRA Broker Report, Stephen Alan Jaffe has been a financial advisor in South Florida (North Miami Beach and Aventura) for the following broker-dealers – Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, UBS Financial Services, and Morgan Stanley DW, Inc.

If you have questions regarding investments you made with Stephen Alan Jaffe, or if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, The White Law Group may be able to help. The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The firm has over 30 years of experience reviewing securities fraud claims throughout the country and Florida, including reviewing securities fraud claims in North Miami Beach, Aventura, South Beach, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Hollywood, and Fort Lauderdale.

To contact the firm, please call 312-238-9650. Or, for more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

UBS Promissory Note Securities Litigation

The White Law Group is currently representing two former UBS financial advisors in a litigation matter involving their alleged promissory note obligation to UBS. Based on our preliminary investigation, it appears that these particular financial advisors were forced to leave UBS because UBS did away with a trading program that was critical to their business and that the platform’s elimination greatly impacted their ability to effectively service their clients.

Notwithstanding the fact that these financial advisors were basically forced to leave UBS and their business has suffered as a result, UBS has sent the advisors a demand letter for the amounts they owe on their promissory note agreements and has indicated that they intend to file claims against these financial advisors for breach of contract if the matters are not quickly resolved.

We are investigating whether other UBS financial advisors were similarly forced to leave the firm as a result of the elimination of any trading platforms. Such information would assist us in demonstrating that UBS’s failure to provide these financial advisors with the necessary trading platform to conduct their business was a firm wide issue that impacted many financial advisors.

If you have any information that would assist us in our investigation, please contact our Chicago, Illinois office at 312-238-9650.

The White Law Group is a national securities litigation law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The firm is intimately familiar with the unique issues involved in promissory note cases, often representing financial advisors in promissory note litigation matters, and having (in the past) handled promissory note litigation cases on behalf of many of the larger broker-dealers (including Banc of America Investment Services, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, and Ameriprise).

For more information on the firm, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

Representing Foreign Investors In FINRA Arbitrations

It is not uncommon for foreign investors to seek to establish an investing relationship with a United States based broker-dealer (either because the client is seeking the security of investing in U.S. investments, or because these firms provide the client with the ability to discreetly invest their assets outside of their home country).

Whether the client realized it or not when establishing their account with these U.S. broker-dealers, the client likely signed an arbitration agreement requiring them to submit to FINRA arbitration in the event of a dispute. In so doing, the client agreed to resolve any dispute (including a claim related to investment losses) through FINRA’s Dispute Resolution process.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The firm represents foreign investors in claims against their U.S. brokerage firm in such FINRA arbitrations.

The Firm has its offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida because of the obvious benefits of being located so close to the FINRA Dispute Resolutions offices in those cities (FINRA’s Southeast headquarters is located at Boca Center Tower 1, 5200 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton, FL 33486- less than one mile from our office, and FINRA’s Midwest headquarters is located at 55 West Monroe Street, Suite 2600, Chicago, IL 60603-1002- close to the firm’s Chicago office).

Having our offices located so close to FINRA’s regional headquarters has its advantages, particularly since FINRA assigns cases to the FINRA office closest to where the client resides. For example, an investor residing in Central or South America will typically have their case assigned to FINRA’s Boca Raton, Florida Dispute Resolution office with the hearing conducted in Miami. As such, having our office located in Boca Raton has huge benefits in administering these cases. Additionally, Rose M. Schindler, who is Of Counsel to The White Law Group, is the former Regional Director of FINRA Dispute Resolution’s Boca Raton office.

We have reviewed cases on behalf of many foreign investors with claims against United States brokerage firms, including reviewing claims on behalf of investors residing in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile. These claims often involve large American brokerage firms servicing Latin American investors from their offices in Miami, firms such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Ameriprise, and UBS.

With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions.

To contact The White Law Group, please call 312-238-9650. Or, for more information about The White Law Group or securities fraud, you can also visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.