What To Know About Suing Your Broker or Investment Adviser For Fraud In FINRA Arbitration During COVID-19

Investment Losses During the Coronavirus Has Investors Scrambling for Answers

If you are like many Americans with investments, you may be struggling to grapple with the massive losses affecting your portfolio as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to wreak havoc on the economy, the markets, the job industry, and people’s lives. 

What you may not realize is that your investment losses may also be a result of broker fraud or negligence on your stockbroker or investment adviser’s part, which is where our investor attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) can help you.

Our investment fraud law firm represents retail investors, high net worth individual investors, and institutional investors throughout the US. Even as we, like all of you, adhere to the new directives in place to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, our lawyers and the rest of our team remain hard at work preparing FINRA arbitration claims on our clients’ behalf against brokers, investment advisers, and their firms.

Here Is What You Should Know About Suing Your Broker or Investment Adviser During COVID-19

If you are looking to file a finra arbitration claim against your broker or financial advisor, especially during this trying time,  it is important to keep the following in mind. 

• If you want to sue your stockbroker or financial adviser for fraud, you can, but you can’t do it in court. You’ll have to do it in FINRA arbitration. That’s because when you agreed to work with your financial representative and your brokerage firm, you signed an arbitration clause that requires you to do so and this agreement is binding.
• This is not the type of claim that you want to do without an experienced securities fraud law firm handling every step of the arbitration process for you. SSEK Law Firm’s attorneys and our other team members have over a century’s worth of combined experience working in the securities industry. Over the years, we have helped thousands of investors to recover their investment fraud claims. 

What Is The FINRA Arbitration Process?

Here is what is involved when filing a FINRA arbitration claim against your stockbroker, financial advisor or brokerage firm: 

1)    Submitting your Statement of Claim, which states the facts and negligence/ fraud allegations you are making.  This is a legal document and one that you want an experienced broker fraud lawyer to prepare for you. 

2)    Waiting for the brokerage firm’s response to your claim. Broker-dealers have a team of lawyers to defend against the stockbroker fraud claims brought against them. This is yet another reason why you need your own experienced securities law firm fighting for you. While some law firms represent both investor and brokerage firm clients in FINRA arbitration,  SSEK Law Firm ONLY represents investors. 

3)    Selecting the team of arbitrators. You want to be represented by a securities law firm that knows who the best arbitrators for your hearing might be and how to successfully argue your case in this typesetting, which is different from a courtroom trial. 

4)    The Discovery Process, which is when both sides exchange documents and information.

5)    Mediation, which is when both sides explore possibly arriving at a settlement. 

6)    The FINRA arbitration hearing, during which time opening statements, examinations, cross-examinations, objections, and closing arguments are made before the arbitration panel. 

7)    The announcement of the verdict and the award.

Why Your Broker Fraud Law Firm Should Be Prepping Your Claim Now

Even though FINRA has postponed all in-person arbitration and mediation proceedings through May 31, 2020, you should not delay in preparing your arbitration claim. The in-person proceedings will start up again once it is safe for everyone and you want to be ready. Also, all other case deadlines are still in effect even with COVID-19. 

By starting now, it means that you and your securities fraud lawyer can prepare in advance all the details and documents needed to successfully bring forward a securities arbitration claim against your broker or broker-dealer when the time is right.  

Experienced FINRA Arbitration Lawyers  

SSEK Law Firm handles all kinds of investment fraud claims involving broker misconduct, investment adviser fraud, brokerage firm negligence, and failed financial products including GPB Capital private placements. Your first consultation with us is a free, no-obligation case assessment. Contact us online or call us at  800-259-9010.