Articles Posted in FINRA

Securities Fraud Roundup: EKN Financial Services Expelled from FINRA, SRO’s CEO Says Complex Products Should Be Subject to Stricter Scrutiny, and Federal Regulators Now Paying Closer Attention to Securities Law Violations that Lead to Victim Hardships

Published on: October 20, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has expelled EKN Financial Services for a number of compliance violations and for letting firm CEO Anthony Ottimo act in the capacity of supervisor even after the Securities and Exchange Commission had barred him from doing so in 2008. FINRA has barred Ottimo from the securities industry, in addition to barring ex-EKN President Thomas Giugliano from working in a principal role. The SRO contends that through Ottimo and Giugliano, EKN violated a number of SEC and NASD/FINRA rules and federal securities laws, including those involving net capital deficiencies, anti-money laundering violations, and reporting failures.

According to FINRA, from 2008 to 2011 Ottimo took on a supervisory role despite the SEC bar. He also continued to serve as CEO even though he wasn’t a registered principal. Meantime, Giugliano and the financial firm are accused of misrepresenting to FINRA that Ottimo wasn’t serving in these roles. The SRO also found that EKN made numerous anti-money laundering violations, such as not setting up a satisfactory AML compliance program to identify and report suspect activity, preparing net capital computations that were not accurate, failing to properly report net capital deficiencies, not accurately detailing liabilities and cost in its records and books, and neglecting to tell FINRA that Giugliano and Ottimo had hundreds of thousands of dollars in liens and judgments that hadn’t been satisfied.

Federal regulators have lately been more alert to potential securities law violations because of the devastating effect such misconduct can have on the lives of victims. Other examples include boiler room scams, affinity fraud, accounting fraud, misappropriation, and Ponzi schemes, which are just some of the violations that target individual investors, including the elderly and the sick, draining many of them of their life savings. Many such violations that impact investors directly are ones generally involving more low profile incidents that the public doesn’t usually hear about.

FINRA Arbitration Panel Tells Merrill Lynch to Pay $1.34M to Florida Couple Over Allegedly Misrepresenting Fannie Mae Preferred Shares’ Risks

Published on: October 17, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel says that Merrill Lynch (MER) has to pay Michele and Robert Billings $1.34 million for allegedly misrepresenting the risks involved in preferred shares of Fannie Mae. The couple, who used to own a pest control business, placed $2.3 million in the shares in 2008 on the recommendation of their broker, Miles Pure.

The Billings claim that Pure told them them that their investment was “safe,” backed by the government, and came with an attractive yield, when, actually, contends the couple, at the time Fannie Mae’s exposure to the residential real estate market that was failing was causing Fannie Mae to lose billions of dollars. Even as the stock’s price went down, they say that Pure discouraged them from selling. They also claim that he didn’t let them know that the financial firm’s own research showed that Fannie Mae was becoming more beleaguered. Not long after, the Billings’ shares lost their value when Fannie Mae went into government conservatorship.

They filed their FINRA arbitration claim contending civil fraud, negligent supervision, and other alleged wrongdoing. The couple, who are now retired, sought $1 million from Merrill Lynch, in addition to other relief. The $1.34 million award includes punitive damages.

While a spokesman for Merrill says that the brokerage firm doesn’t agree with the panel’s ruling, the Billings’ securities attorney expressed approval of the outcome. Meantime, the FINRA panel has denied Pure’s request to have the disclosure about this arbitration taken out of public record. Although he was not involved in this case, per the securities industry, all securities brokers who are license must have their connection to any arbitration claim noted in their public records regardless of whether/not if he/she was party to it. (The panel, however, did remove the arbitration disclosure from the record of a brokerage manager who didn’t deal directly/daily with the Billings.)

Pure is now a Morgan Keegan broker. Morgan Keegan is a Raymond James Financial Inc. (RJF) unit. Merrill Lynch is a Bank of America (BAC) subsidiary.

This securities case is an example of some of the repercussions that are still happening for investors and brokers in the wake of the economic crisis. The Billings are just two of many investors that have sustained financial losses because a brokerage firm allegedly misrepresented the risks involved in an investment. Meantime, more arbitration claims over such losses are still pending.

Merrill Lynch ordered to pay couple $1.34 million over Fannie Mae Preferred Shares, Reuters/Chicago Tribune, October 16, 2012

Bank of America Merrill Lynch hit with $1.3 million arbitration order, Investment News, October 17, 2012

More Blog Posts:
Ex-Fannie Mae Executives Have to Defend Against SEC Lawsuit Over Their Alleged Involvement in Understating Mortgage Company’s Exposure Risk, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, August 25, 2012

Merrill Lynch Told to Pay $3.6M to Brazilian Heiress for Brother’s Alleged $389M in Unauthorized Trading, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, September 22, 2012

Freddie Mac and Fannie May Drop After They Delist Their Shares from New York Stock Exchange, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, June 25, 2010 Continue Reading ›

Securities Roundup: SLUSA Bars Investors’ State Securities Case Alleging Trust Account Management Negligence, Blocks Investors From Remanding Fraud Case to Puerto Rico & FINRA Enhances Proposed Rules’ Cost-Benefit Analysis, Looks at Non-Traded REIT Ads

Published on: October 8, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act bars state law breach of contract and negligence claims related to the way the plaintiffs’ trust accounts were managed. The appeals court’s ruling affirms the district court’s decision that the claims “amounted to allegations” that the defendants did not properly represent the way investments would be determined and left out a material fact about the latters’ conflicts of interest that let them invest in in-house funds.

SLUSA shuts a loophole in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act that allows plaintiffs to sue in state court without having to deal with the latter’s more stringent pleading requirements. In Daniels v. Morgan Asset Management Inc., the plaintiffs sued Regions Trust, Morgan Asset Management, and affiliated entities and individuals in Tennessee state court. Per the court, Regions Trust, the record owner of shares in a number of Regions Morgan Keegan mutual funds, had entered into two advisory service agreements with Morgan Asset Management, with MAM agreeing to recommend investments to be sold or bought from clients’ trust accounts. The plaintiffs are claiming that MAM was therefore under obligation to continuously assess whether continued investing in the RMK fund, which were disproportionately invested in illiquid mortgage-backed securities that they say resulted in their losses, was appropriate.

The defendants were able to remove the action to federal district court, which, invoking SLUSA, threw out the lawsuit. The appeals court affirms this dismissal.

Securities Roundup: FINRA Heightens Focus on Options Industry & Wants More Investors to Use BrokerCheck, Lawmaker Hopes SEC is Taking Closer Look at National Exchanges, and US Senator Calls For Reform of Money Market Mutual Fund Industry

Published on: September 24, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

At the Security Traders Association’s yearly market conference in DC, Richard Ketchum, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s chief executive officer and chairman, said that due to growing problems the SRO is heightening its surveillance and exam focus on the options industry. He noted that there has been an increase in complaints about the use of algorithmic activities to perform possible manipulations to “move underlying equity” and that this could cause a financial firm to “take advantage” of options positions that were pre-established.

Per BNA, Ketchum said that FINRA has set up surveillance alerts to catch too much messaging traffic from algorithms that update quotes at vicious rates when options are involved. It is also looking at firms to make sure they have adequate controls related to algorithms and it will keep checking for options orders that may have possibly inaccurate coding.

The week before, Ketchum reported that the FINRA Board of Governors had given the SRO’s staff the authority to propose to the SEC rule changes to promote greater investors use of BrokerCheck. This free tool allows investors to look up former and current firms and brokers that are registered with the SRO, and representatives and investment advisers, to decide whether the should work with them. (This information would also have to be available on websites that were maintained by/for an individual associated with these firms.) Per amendments that have been proposed to the FINRA Rule 2267, which covers the education and protection of investors, member firms would have to make sure that their company sites provide a direct link to BrokerCheck. Meantime, a change has also been proposed to FINRA Rule 8312 that would give the public permanent access to information available through BrokerCheck about foreign and state cases against associated persons who were let go after a settlement was reached. It would also per the board’s approval, make downloads of BrokerCheck information available.

Securities Roundup: FINRA Fines Rodman & Renshaw $315K, Convictions Reached in $1B High Yield Fraud Scam Involving FBI, SEC Sues Wwebnet over $2.1M Fraud, and Ex-Hedge Fund Manager Settles Unsuitable Investment Recommendation Allegations for Over $421K

Published on: September 11, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

To settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority allegations that it committed numerous violations involving dealings between investment banking and research functions, Rodman & Renshaw LLC has agreed to pay a $315,000 fine. According to the SRO, from January 2008 to March 2012, the financial firm did not have an adequate supervisory system in place to properly monitor these interactions. Rodman & Renshaw also allegedly did not keep research analysts from soliciting investment banking business, compensated one analyst for such contributions, and did not stop Rodman’s CEO (he was on its Research Analyst Compensation Committee while taking part investment banking activities) from having control or influence over research analyst evaluations and compensation.

Also fined over this matter are ex-Rodman & Renshaw CCO William A. Iommi Sr., who must pay $15,000, is suspended from serving in a principal capacity for 90 days, and has to requalify as a general securities principal, research analyst Lewis B. Fan, who must pay $10,000 fine and is suspended for 30 business days for allegedly trying to solicit investment banking business from public companies, and research analyst Alka Singh, who must pay $10,000 and is suspended for six months for allegedly trying to set up a concealed fee from a public company that she provided with research coverage. Although all of the parties have consented to an entry of FINRA’s findings, they have not denied or admitted to the securities charges.

In an unrelated securities case, a California jury has found ex-Rodman & Renshaw broker and investment adviser William Ferry and former real estate investment manager Dennis Clinton guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud, and mail fraud in a high-yield investment fraud scam that involved efforts to bilk a rich investor of $1 billion. The investor was actually someone who was working undercover for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Merrill Lynch Agrees to Pay $40M Proposed Deferred Compensation Class Action Settlement to Ex-Brokers

Published on: August 27, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Merrill Lynch (MER) has arrived at an “agreement in principle” to resolve the class action lawsuit filed by John Burnette and Scott Chambers over deferred compensation that they contend that the brokerage firm refused to pay them after it merged with Bank of America (BAC) in 2008 and they left its employ. About 1,400 brokers are part of this class. However, some 3,300 ex-Merrill brokers have submitted deferred compensation claims against the brokerage firm for the same reason.

Merrill had refused to give these employees their deferred compensation, which is what a broker usually gets paid for staying with a financial firm for a specific number of years, when they resigned after the merger. These brokers, however, cited “good reason” for their departure, which is another cause they can claim to receive this.

The class action settlement was presented to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan at Manhattan federal court on Friday. She will decide whether to approve it, as well as certify the class according to the parties’ definition. However, it is not known at this time how many brokers will go for this settlement if it is approved.

It is not unusual for many to opt not to be part of a class action settlement and instead seek to obtain more money via an individual arbitration claim. Having an arbitration lawyer personally representing your case generally leads to bigger results. Already, over a thousand ex-Merrill brokers have filed their FINRA claims. Also, for an ex-Merrill broker whose deferred compensation was above six figures, they are likely to get much less by going the class action route. Meantime, ex-Merrill brokers with revenues that exceeded $500,000 during a certain timeframe before they left the financial firm cannot participate in a class action settlement. Neither can those that accepted bonuses and waived certain rights related to deferred compensation claims from Merrill after the deal with Bank of America.

That said, even the ex-Merrill brokers that decide to opt out of the class are likely to benefit from this settlement because it establishes a floor for payouts while serving as Merrill’s public acknowledgement that it had a financial duty to pay the former brokers upon their departure.

Under the class action settlement, the majority of advisers would get 40-60% of the value of their account. According to OnWallStreet.com, for a broker to receive 60%, advisors must have already made a request for reimbursement, whether via lawsuit, arbitration, or some other way and left the financial firm prior to January 30, 2010. To be eligible to receive 50%, these advisers too will have had to have made some type of legal action and resigned by June 30, 2010. If no action was taken, and the former broker still wants to opt in, they would turn in a form and seek 40% of compensation–dependent upon when they exited the firm. Other ex-advisors might also be able to receive 40 to 60% of payment depending on when they left Merrill, whether they had filed a deferred compensation claim, and in what compensation plans they were participants. Ex-dvisers that had an agreement with the Advisor Transition Program, however, would not be able to participate.)

Merrill to Make Good on Former Brokers’ Deferred Comp, On Wall Street, August 24, 2012
Merrill to pay $40 mln in deferred compensation suit, Reuters, August 25, 2012

More Blog Posts:
Merrill Lynch to Pay Brokers Over $10M for Alleged Fraud Over Deferred Compensation Plans, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, April 5, 2012

Advanced Equities Ordered by FINRA Arbitration Panel to Pay $4.5M to Ex-Broker, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, June 12, 2012

Claims Continue over MasterShare – Prudential Securities’ Deferred Compensation Plan, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, August 13, 2008 Continue Reading ›

FINRA Seeking to Create a Bigger, More Diverse Arbitrator Roster

Published on: August 23, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ‘s lead arbitrator recruiter, the self-regulatory organization is taking active steps to create a roster of arbitrators that is not only larger than its current one, but also more professionally and culturally diverse. Barbara Brady spoke at a Practicing Law Institute seminar this month.

Arbitrators are who that preside over FINRA arbitration cases on numerous matters, including financial fraud claims by investors and broker-brokerage firm disputes. Last year, arbitrators made more than 1,270 securities arbitration decisions that led to over $19 million in repayment to investors, over $63 million in fines, and 475 broker suspensions. Only a court can overturn an arbitrator’s securities ruling and this would have to be due to extenuating circumstances.

“Outcomes in arbitration vary greatly based on the quality of the arbitrators,” said William Shepherd, a Houston-based attorney, whose firm has represented investors in more than 1,000 arbitration claims over the past twenty years. “If securities arbitration is to have any integrity at all FINRA must make certain that the arbitrator decides cases fairly.”

Choosing who should be named an arbitrator can lead to disagreement over how much securities industry/brokerage firm experience or ties a candidate should have. For example, while an arbitrator who used to be a broker or a securities attorney may have certain technical expertise and experience that could prove helpful in deciding a case, he/she may also be biased.

“Having savvy arbitrators may streamline the process a bit with less reliance on expert testimony,” said Shepherd, “but it is difficult for such arbitrators to understand the lack of understanding of investments by the ordinary investor. I often point to my client’s own experiences to demonstrate this to arbitrators. For example, my client’s understanding of machinery at his workplace keeps him from getting hurt, but if you walked into that factory you might be killed the first day. It’s not that you’re stupid, just that you lack experience in that environment. The dangers of investing were foreign to my client. That is why he or she hired an expert. ”

Securities panels with three arbitrators usually handle arbitration disputes when over $100,000 is involved. Customers are allowed to opt for two of the three arbitrators or all three of them to not have a securities industry background. That said, just because someone is a non-industry arbitrator doesn’t mean he/she lacks biases.

While FINRA chooses not to reveal the demographics of its arbitrator pool, Brady claims that the SRO does try to select a diverse range of arbitrators from different backgrounds. She said FINRA is making an effort to make sure that women, minorities, and professors of economics, law, and real estate are represented.

Who makes a good arbitrator?, Reuters, August 20, 2012

Arbitrator Appointment Frequently Asked Questions, FINRA

More Blog Posts:
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Ordered by FINRA Arbitration Panel to Pay $5M Over Allegedly False Promises Made To Brokers Recruited from UBS AG, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, June 22, 2012
Apple REIT Arbitration: FINRA Rules Against David Lerner Associates in First of Hundreds of Cases, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, May 26, 2012

UBS, Citigroup FINRA Arbitration with Nonprofit Over ARS Cannot Be Halted, Said District Court, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, August 6, 2012 Continue Reading ›

Institutional Investor Securities Roundup: Biremis, Corp. Settles Securities Violation Charges with Industry Bar, FINRA Contacts Broker-Dealers About Conflicts of Interest Via Sweeps Letters, & Regulators Examine Financial Market Infrastructures

Published on: August 8, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Broker-dealer Biremis Corp. and its CEO and president Peter Beck agreed to be barred from the securities industry to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority allegations that they committed supervisory violations related to the prevention of manipulative trading, securities law violations, and money laundering. The SRO says that even though the financial firm’s specialty was executing trades for day traders, it had only obtained order flow from two clients outside the US from June 2007 through June 2010 and that both had connections to Beck.

FINRA contends that the broker-dealer and Beck did not set up a supervisory system that could be expected to comply with the regulations and laws that prohibit trading activity that is manipulative, such as “layering,” which involves making non-bona-fide orders on one side of the market to create a reaction that will lead to an order being executed on the other side. The SRO also says that Beck and Biremis did not set up an anti-money laundering system that was adequate, which caused the brokerage firm to miss warning signs of certain suspect activity so that it could report them in a timely manner.

Meanwhile, FINRA has also been attempting to deal with the issue of conflicts of interests via sweep letters, which it sent to a number of broker-dealers. The SRO is seeking information about how the financial firms manage and identify conflicts of interest. In addition to requesting meetings with each of them, FINRA wants the brokerage firms to provide, by September 14, the department and employee names of those in charge of conflict reviews, information about the kinds of documents that are prepared after such evaluations, and the names of who gets the final documents and reports after the conflict reviews.

Another area where regulators have been taking a hard look is the financial market infrastructures. The International Organization of Securities Commissions and the
Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems put out a joint report last month providing guidance about resolution and recovery regimes that apply to financial market infrastructures. The “Recovery and resolution of financial market infrastructures” is a follow-up report to the “Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions” by the Financial Stability Board.

The board had said that financial market infrastructures needed to be subject to resolution regimes in a manner that was appropriate to them. This report tackles these matters as they apply to financial market infrastructures, including important payment systems, central counterparties, central securities depositories, trade repositories, and securities settlement systems.

FINRA Expels Biremis, Corp. and Bars President and CEO Peter Beck, FINRA, July 31, 2012

Recovery and resolution of financial market infrastructures (PDF)

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Texas Securities Roundup: Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Sued Over Financial Adviser’s Ponzi Scam, Judge Dismisses Ex-GE Executive Whistleblower’s Lawsuit Over His Firing, & Ex-Stanford Financial Group CIO Pleads Guilty to Obstructing the SEC’s Probe, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, July 3, 2012

$1.2 Billion of MF Global Inc.’s Clients Money Still Missing, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, December 10, 2011

FINRA, SEC Need to Employ Better Oversight Over Investor Education Funds, Says District Court

Published on: July 30, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York says that the Securities and Exchange Commission is not a doing a good enough job in providing oversight of $55 million in investor education funds and the way that the money is being disbursed. The funds come from the $1.4 Global Research Analyst Settlement that was reached with top investment banks, including Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), and others, in 2003, over securities research that had been allegedly flawed and biased. The case is SEC v. Bear Stearns & Co.

Now, Judge William H. Pauley III, who is tasked with supervising how the settlement is implemented, is contending that the SEC should have been raising red flags about the FINRA Investor Education Foundation’s “opaque” project spending and operational expenses. The court is asking the foundation and the SEC to turn in certain information, including detailed accounting of receipts and spending for 2011 and 2010, by the end of August. The foundation also has provided additional details about its operating costs.

The court has said that disbursing the funds has been a challenging process. After the Investor Education Entity, which was created to use the funds, failed to take off, in 2005 the court let the SEC move the $55 million to the foundation under the premise that the regulator would provide oversight while turning in quarterly reports.( As of December 31, 2011 the foundation had given out approximately $44.7 million of the funds through education and grant programs.)

However, in an opinion that issued in 2009, the court questioned why the foundation paid $800,000 in administrative expenses while giving just $6.5 million to grantees. And in this most recent decision, the court is once again asking why, considering the type of projects involved, the foundation seems to spend a “disproportionately high” amount. Pauley pointed to several examples, including a daylong seminar involving 130 attendees in West Virginia that cost $58,000 and a financial fraud conference last November that the foundation co-sponsored in DC that took place at a posh hotel.

The court also said that the quarterly reports that it has received are “bereft” of the details that they should provide, and it is wondering why the eight “primary” states that have been the target of the foundation’s educational activities don’t necessarily appear to be the ones with the “greatest investor education needs.”

FINRA Investor Education Foundation spokesperson George Smaragdis has said that the foundation will give over the information that the court is asking for but that it doesn’t agree with the majority of the court’s statements.

SEC v. Bear Stearns

FINRA Investor Education Foundation

More Blog Posts:
The SEC Penalties Act of 2012 Would Create Tough Financial Punishments for Securities Fraud, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, July 29, 2012

SEC’s Delay in Adopting Conflict Minerals Disclosure Rule is Impeding the Development of Initiatives for Issuer Compliance, Says GAO, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, July 27, 2012
Stanford Ponzi Scam Investors File Class Action Lawsuit Suing The Securities and Exchange Commission, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, July 25, 2012 Continue Reading ›

FINRA Sustained $84.1M Net Loss in 2011

Published on: July 14, 2012 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to its yearly financial report, in 2011 the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority sustained an $84 million net loss last year primarily because of “non-recurring costs” involving new data centers in Maryland and New York and a rise in integration expenses related to the enhancement of cross market surveillance capabilities. A poor economy also reportedly played a role in the SRO’s decrease in revenues. The report came out on June 29.

FINRA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Ketchum attributed the decrease of regulatory fees of close to $50 million-a 10% drop since the financial crisis hit in 2008-to a drop in transaction volumes and industry revenues, as well as lower investment returns because of overall market returns and a more conservative investment allocation policy. (FINRA also noted net losses of $696.3 million in 2008, $48.6 million in 2009, and $54.6 million in 2010. )

Ketchum said that due to its “static funding levels,” FINRA is closely examining the organization’s spending habits, which it plans to lower by approximately $35 million this year. He expects that this will creative cumulative savings of close to $60 million by the end of next year while keeping the SRO’s regulatory mission intact.