According to public filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, there were approximately eighty broker-dealers across the country who sold, or were at least authorized to sell, these investments for GPB, including Aegis Capital Corp., D.H. Hill Securities, Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments, Sagepoint Financial, Inc., Woodbury Financial Services, Inc.,…
InvestmentNews reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating GPB Capital Holdings. The alternative investment management firm said that the FBI stopped by unannounced to its New York offices last week. The visit took place a few months after both the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the…
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has filed investor fraud charges against ex-broker Bruce Worthington, who was previously licensed with Commonwealth Financial Network and after that with Founders Financial Network. Worthington was based in Massachusetts. According to Galvin’s fraud complaint, Worthington fraudulently misappropriated nearly $100K from one client’s accounts.…
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office has fined United Planners Financial Services of America $100K for failing to properly supervise broker Thomas T. Riquier. The broker was charged last year for violating the state’s securities laws over his alleged involvement in a real estate scam that defrauded investors…
Virginia Regulator Fines UBS Financial After Its Broker Makes Unsuitable Recommendations To settle charges brought by Virginia’s State Corporate Commission accusing a UBS (UBS) broker of making unsuitable recommendations involving gold and precious metals securities to 18 clients, UBS Financial Services will pay $319K—$289K to the clients and $30K to…
Current Investigation: Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas, LLP (“SSEK Law Firm”) is currently investigating claims on behalf of former clients of Kristian “Kris” Gaudet (“Gaudet”) of Cut Off, Louisiana. In January 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) barred Gaudet from association with any FINRA member. The result of such a…
Ex-Merrill Lynch Broker Will Pay $5M Penalty and Serve Time In Prison A federal judge has sentenced Thomas Buck, an ex-Merrill Lynch broker, to 40 months in prison. Buck pleaded guilty to securities fraud in 2017. As part of his plea, he admitted to lying to Merrill about telling clients about…
Investor Awarded $276K in Woodbridge Ponzi Fraud A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has awarded more than $276K to an investor that lost money in the $1.2B Woodbridge Ponzi scam. The panel found that Quest Capital Strategies did not properly supervise former broker Frank Dietrich, who sold $400K…
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas recently announced that District Court Judge Keith P. Ellison has sentenced former financial adviser Peggy Ann Fulford to 120 months in prison—that’s 10 years. Fulford defrauded a number of professional athletes, including ex-NBA basketball players Dennis Rodman and Travis Best,…
Former Centaurus Financial Broker’s Certified Financial Planner Designation is Suspended The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards has suspended Texas broker’s Larry J. Templin’s CFP designation. The interim suspension comes after Templin, who is accused of bank fraud, refused to provide the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) with information related…