investment fraud

How To Avoid Investment Fraud

Published on: February 28, 2023 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Investor Losses Caused By Investment Fraud Are Not Your Fault

One of the more common questions that investors ask us is whether there is anything they could have done to protect themselves from becoming the victim of investment fraud. But many times, financial advisor misconduct can be hard to identify let alone stop—unless you know what to look for.

Retail customers, retirees, and even sophisticated investors will usually hire financial professionals that they believe they can trust. Unfortunately, there are brokers and investment advisers who will willfully violate that good faith.

What Are the Common Signs of Investment Fraud

Published on: October 13, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

What Are Common Signs of Investment Fraud and How Can Our Investor Attorneys Help?

Red Flags May Help Identify When You Have Become The Victim of Fraudulent Activities

If you are someone who has suffered significant losses to your investment or retirement funds, it is important that your financial advisor explains to you what happened. Unfortunately, all too often there are investors, including retirees, who will have sustained financial losses due to poor account mismanagement, broker negligence, or securities fraud.

Former Wells Fargo Broker Mario Rivero Charged With $500K Investment Fraud

Published on: March 16, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-Wells Fargo Clearing Services Advisor Allegedly Misappropriated Funds from Elderly Investors

Mario Everildo Rivero is charged with two counts of wire fraud, one count of securities fraud, and one count of investment advisor fraud. He was arrested on March 14, 2022. The ex-Wells Fargo Clearing Services broker is accused of stealing more than $500K from clients. All of them were older investors.

Prosecutors contend that from April 2018 to November 2020, when Rivero was working as a Wells Fargo financial advisor, he misappropriated at least $529K from four customers. This allegedly included:

Ex- Morgan Stanley Broker Pleads Guilty to $6M Investment Fraud

Published on: July 31, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-Morgan Stanley Broker Admits To Criminal Investment Fraud, Faces SEC Charges

Michael Barry Carter, a former Morgan Stanley (MS) broker, has pleaded guilty to federal investment fraud and wire fraud charges involving a scam in which he defrauded five customers. This included at least one elderly client, of more than $6M. The scheme took place over 12 years. After his acts of broker fraud were uncovered, Carter took money from other investors to pay back his other victims.

Morgan Stanley fired Carter last year. He also is now facing parallel Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil charges.

Barred Wells Fargo Broker Named in Unsuitable Investment Fraud Case Recently Settled for $995K

Published on: June 3, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Fired Wells Fargo Representative is Barred by FINRA

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced this month that it is barring former Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network broker, Leonard Charles Kinsman, from the industry.

The ban comes after Kinsman refused to testify in the self-regulatory organization’s (SRO’s) probe into his firing by Wells Fargo (WFC) for allegedly “unprofessional conduct.” Kinsman was named last year in an investor fraud claim accusing him of making unsuitable investment recommendations and forging and falsifying business records. That customer dispute has now been settled for $995K.

Top Warning Signs of Senior Investor Fraud that You Need to Be Aware of

Published on: May 20, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Many Older Investors Remain Vulnerable to Securities Fraud

As a retiree or a senior investor living in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are red flags to look out for that may indicate that you’ve become the victim of senior investor fraud.

Unfortunately, older investors remain a favorite target of fraudsters eager to take advantage of an elderly customer’s inexperience or health issues while availing themselves of the latter’s retirement funds and other savings.

The Top Types of Securities Fraud All Investors Must Know

Published on: April 14, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Broker Fraud Along With The Coronavirus May Be Causing Investment Losses

Becoming the victim of securities fraud is a serious matter. With stocks plummeting and the markets fluctuating all over the place in the wake of COVID-19, investors may not realize that it’s not just the economic reverberations of the coronavirus that’s plaguing their portfolio.

They also may be losing money because their stockbrokers or investment advisor were fraudulent or negligent when handling their investments and placed them in an even more precarious financial situation with more losses than they would now be sustaining otherwise.

GPB Capital Sued Again: A Class Action Fraud Case and One Lawsuit by Volkswagen

Published on: February 24, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

GPB Capital Holdings Faces Another Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Already the subject of mass fraud accusations, including allegations of a $1.8B Ponzi scam, the alternative assets firm is once again the defendant of two new lawsuits.

Adding to a growing list of GPB Capital lawsuits is another class action securities fraud case. The other, brought by Volkswagen of America, is accusing GPB Capital of breaking its agreement when it fired Prime Automotive Group CEO, David Rosenberg, last year.

Ex-Morgan Stanley Broker Elias Hafen Sentenced To Prison For Investment Fraud

Published on: February 13, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-Morgan Stanley Broker Sentenced To 30 Months

Please contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) if Elias Herbert Hafen, a former Morgan Stanley (MS) and Wells Fargo (WFC) broker, was your financial representative when you suffered substantial investment losses that you think may be due to fraud. Hafen is sentenced to 30 months in prison for defrauding former clients of over $1.6M.

The prison term comes after Hafen pleaded guilty to investment advisor fraud. Prosecutors contend that Hafen sought to defraud 11 retail customers, between 2011 until 2018, by making them think he had access to a high-yield fund that would bring them guaranteed investment returns.

Rogue Broker Named in Over 50 Complaints Found Guilty of Mail & Wire Fraud

Published on: February 10, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Rogue Broker Convicted & Faces Decades In Prison

A jury has convicted Anthony Diaz, a barred rogue stockbroker who was fired by several brokerage firms and has been the subject of more than four dozen customer complaints, of 11 counts of wire fraud and mail fraud. Each criminal court comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) have been speaking to former customers of Diaz who sustained investment losses while working with him. If you are one of these investors, contact our broker fraud attorneys today. You may have grounds for a civil claim against the brokerage firm where he was working at the time.