FINRA fined Prudential Annuities Distributors $950,000 this month for its failure to detect and prevent the theft by its agent, Travis Wetzel, of almost $1,300,000 from a customer’s variable annuity. The FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent may be found here. Mr. Wetzel, who was a former registered representative of LPL Financial, allegedly submitted…
Continue reading ›As set out in this SEC Order from an Administrative Law Judge (https://www.sec.gov/alj/aljdec/2016/id1033jeg.pdf), Dawn Bennett has been barred from the securities industry by the SEC. Dawn Bennett was a Washington DC area advisor who was previously registered to sell securities with Western International Securities. Judge Grimes also imposed over one million dollars of fines and…
Continue reading ›Greco & Greco is pleased to report the first FINRA Arbitration Award against UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico relating to the crash of UBS closed end bond funds in 2013 which were sold to Puerto Rico residents. W. Scott Greco represented the Claimant customer in the case of Bauza v. UBS Financial Services of…
Continue reading ›As set out in this Washington Post article, federal prosecutors in Virginia have set up the Virginia Financial and Securities Fraud Task Force. This task force is comprised of members of the FBI, the Postal Inspection Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Virginia State Corporation Commission. As set…
Continue reading ›Ismail Elmas plead guilty on October 21, 2014 to a Count of Wire Fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release (which can be found here), Mr. Elmas worked at Apple Financial Services, an affiliate of Apple Federal Credit Union during the time…
Continue reading ›To date, FINRA Arbitration Panels have issued five awards relating to claims filed by investors against UBS and UBS of Puerto Rico regarding their Puerto Rico Closed End Bond Funds (CEFs). The Awards (for cases filed after the 2013 crash of the CEF market) are summarized below: 1. Bauza v. UBS Financial Services of Puerto…
Continue reading ›The SEC and FINRA have brought charges and fined UBS relating to sales practices and supervision of their UBS Puerto Rico Bond Funds. The SEC press release and Orders can be found here: SEC Press Release 2015-217. The SEC alleged that UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico (UBSPR) failed to supervise its broker in relation…
Continue reading ›Greco & Greco is currently investigating possible claims regarding a Winchester, Virginia financial advisor, Randy Watts. Mr. Watts operated under the name Watts Financial Group, and was registered to sell securities with Lincoln Financial Securities until November, 2015. If you believe you may have a legal claim regarding investments with Mr. Watts or Lincoln Financial,…
Continue reading ›FINRA recently entered a Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent regarding Capitol Securities Management Inc. regarding various alleged sales practice violations. The AWC can be found here: http://disciplinaryactions.finra.org/Search/ViewDocument/63638 The issues addressed by the AWC involved supervision, its anti-money laundering program, and the alleged unsuitable sales of Reverse Convertible Notes. FINRA stated at page 3: “CSM,…
Continue reading ›FINRA, a regulator of the securities industry, recently issued a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) regarding former FSC Securities Corporation broker, Andrew Corbman. Pursuant to the AWC, Mr. Corbman was suspended for one month from being registered with any FINRA firm. Mr. Corbman was registered with FSC Securities from 2/2008 – 1/2011, Kovack…
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