Has Mark Hotton caused you Investment Losses?
The August 11th episode of “American Greed” aired on CNBC- TV covering Mark Hotton’s much-publicized guilty plea in 2013 to fraud charges after promising funding to the producers of the planned Broadway production “Rebecca: The Musical.” Apparently, Mark Hotton eventually told producers that one of the investors he had lined up died in Africa of malaria, but later admitted he never existed.
Hotton, former financial advisor at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. is in federal prison on an 11¼-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. The prison sentence handed down in U.S. District Court also covers complaints of other individuals and companies claiming losses that total more than $9 million.
On March 26, 2015, FINRA ordered Oppenheimer & Co. to pay $3.75 million for allegedly failing to properly supervise a broker who allegedly defrauded dozens of clients and who also duped the producers of a Broadway musical.
FINRA also purportedly found that Oppenheimer overlooked “red flags” including money transfers from customer accounts to entities controlled by Hotton. More than $2.9 million was allegedly transferred out of customer accounts. In addition, the firm apparently failed to adequately supervise Hotton despite the fact that Oppenheimer’s surveillance analyst detected excessive trading on customers accounts.
Brokerage firms have a fiduciary duty to monitor all the business activities and transactions of their employees. When a broker violates securities laws and industry regulations the brokerage firm may be liable for negligent supervision and can be held responsible for investment losses in a FINRA dispute resolution claim.
Recovery of Investment Losses
If you suffered losses investing with Mark Hotton and would like to discuss your potential to recover your losses through a FINRA arbitration claim, please call the securities attorney of The White Law Group at 888-637-5510 for a free consultation.
The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm dedicated to the representation of investors in FINRA arbitration claims against brokerage firms throughout the United States. Our offices are located in Chicago, Illinois and Vero Beach, Florida.
