LPL Financial

Retiree Couple Says NBT Bank VP & LPL Financial Broker Bret Hartman Unsuitably Recommended XOP Note

Published on: July 2, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Senior Investors Lose Money in Risky Structured Product Tied To Price of Oil

An elderly retiree couple has filed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against LPL Financial, LLC and its broker, Bret Alexander Hartman, to recover losses they sustained in a structured product tied to the price of oil. In their broker fraud case, they are alleging unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentations and omissions, and other claims.

Our structured product fraud lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) are representing these claimants, who are in their eighties and nineties and never should have been invested in a structured note that exposed them to the volatile oil and gas sector.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Investigating Claims From LPL Financial Customers Who Invested in Nontraded REITS and Publicly Traded Property Interval Funds

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

LPL Blocks Sales of Nontraded Real Estate Investment Trusts and Publicly Traded Property Interval Funds

This week, LPL Financial (LPLA) announced that it had suspended its sales of several nontraded REITs, as well as a number of publicly traded property interval funds. This is because the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was placing these investments at a higher risk of losses.

In an email to InvestmentNews, LPL EVP of Products and Platforms, Rob Pettman, wouldn’t offer the names of the funds but did note that the broker-dealer hoped to offer them to investors again once the markets had calmed.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Investigates Customer Claims Involving Former LPL Financial Broker Mark Lamkin

Published on: April 8, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former LPL Financial Broker Borrowed $1.3M From Customer Without Notifying Firm

Mark Lamkin, an ex-LPL Financial representative, has been suspended by the FINRA for three months. Lamkin, who is now a Calton & Associates broker, is accused of borrowing $1.3M in total from an LPL Financial Services customer between 2011 and 2017 without getting written approval from or notifying the broker-dealer. This is not the first time he is accused of broker misconduct.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) is investigating claims involving Mark Lamkin, who has been a registered representative for 28 years. Contact our stockbroker fraud attorneys today.

Citigroup, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Securities, and Merrill Lynch Fined $1.4M for Failure to Reasonably Supervise

Published on: March 2, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Broker-Dealers Accused of Not Properly Supervising Custodial Accounts

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it has fined five major firms $1.4M in total for not reasonably supervising custodial accounts. The broker-dealers are:

Citigroup (C), which will pay $300K.

Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas Investigates Jeffery Vasiloff, Former LPL Financial Advisor

Published on: October 9, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Cleveland, Ohio

Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas (“SSEK”), a law firm specializing in representing wronged investors, is looking at allegations by FINRA into former Linsco Private Ledger (LPL) financial advisor, Jeffery Vasiloff (“Vasiloff”). Vasiloff worked at LPL in 2018 and was not employed very long. Vasiloff was fired, according to FINRA, due to allegations of utilizing discretion without obtaining the proper written authority. As a result, he was also suspended from acting as a financial advisor by FINRA. He previously worked at Invest Financial Corporation and appears to be based out of Vermilion, Ohio. After serving his suspension, Vasiloff became employed by JW Cole Financial.

Vasiloff never admitted nor denied FINRA’s finding. However, he consented to the sanctions imposed and accepted the findings that he acted improperly by refusing to obtain prior consent, in writing, from the client before acting on that client’s behalf. LPL simply reported to FINRA that Vasiloff was discharged for “use of discretion without prior written authorization.”

Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas investigates James T. Booth and LPL/INVEST

Published on: September 23, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas (“SSEK”), a law firm specializing in representing wronged investors, is looking into allegations made by FINRA in a recent AWC filing against Booth. In February 2018 LPL acquired INVEST. Booth had been working at INVEST since 2005 and has been a broker since 1988. In the AWC it is alleged that Booth received client assets with the promise of investing said assets on behalf of the clients. Booth instead used client assets for his own personal use and never actually invested the assets.

According to Booth’s official record or CRD, he has 25 disclosures or claims against him. This is an unusually high number, and generally indicates poor supervision. Almost all of the complaints are on the violative conduct listed above. According to the FINRA CRD report, most of his former clients complain of a “Ponzi scheme using multiple shell companies.”

LPL fired Booth, and according to LPL this was done after Booth admitted to misappropriation of multiple client’s assets for his own use. It should be noted that FINRA has also barred Booth from the industry and can no longer act as a stockbroker or advisor under FINRA.

Former LPL Broker and Ex-Convict Accused in $3.3M Investor Fraud

Published on: July 10, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>LPL Financial (LPLA) broker, Kerry L. Hoffman, is now facing fraud charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Hoffman is accused of fraudulently selling $3.3M of unregistered securities, along with childhood friend Thomas V. Conwell, who is also a defendant in the civil case. The latter was barred by the regulator from the industry in 2000 after a separate $800K fraud that harmed 19 investors. Conwell pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges against him and was sentenced to time in prison.

According to the SEC’s current complaint, the two men defrauded at least 46 investors in a dozen states by selling GT Media, Inc. securities to them. Hoffman was a registered LPL Financial broker during most of the time of the fraud, which allegedly took place between July 2015 and July 2018. He resigned from the firm in the wake of allegations that he served as consultant to GT Media without getting LPL’s approval or notifying the firm about these outside activities. He also was accused of helping a number of LPL clients and his own family members to invest in the company.

Hoffman allegedly offered and sold $350K of GT Media convertible promissory notes and $500K of the company’s stock to five advisory clients, making $50K in commissions. The Commission is accusing him of soliciting some of his advisory clients to invest in the unregistered securities but without letting them know that he had a conflict of interest. Not only was GT Media paying him compensation, but also the company was paying back money he had let it using investors’ money.

Massachusetts Fines LPL Financial $1.1M

Published on: July 2, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin has imposed a $1.1M fine on target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>LPL Financial (LPLA) after finding that the brokerage firm did not properly register 651 of its advisors in the state. Galvin’s office contends that for six years, LPL let these brokers work in Massachusetts despite the lack of registration and that this violates the state’s securities laws.

In Massachusetts, a brokerage firm is required to register its agents before they are allowed to engage in securities-related business in the state. As of May 9, LPL had 4,219 agents who were registered in the state.

However, the lack of registration by 651 of its agents between March 2013 and April 4, 2019 prevented Massachusetts securities regulators from being able to check their qualifications and histories to ensure that investors who worked with them were in safe hands. 441 of these unregistered agents acted as financial advisors to at least one or more state residents during the period at issue. The other 210 agents supervised the agents who were advisors to these customers.

Another Ex-LPL Broker Barred Following Misrepresentation Allegations

Published on: June 11, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Jason Nelson, an ex-LPL Financial broker (LPLA), is now barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The bar comes after Nelson refused to participate in the self-regulatory organization’s (SRO) probe into his sales activities.

LPL fired Nelson early last year after finding that he misrepresented customer financial information related to annuity sales. Without denying or admitting to FINRA’s findings, Nelson consented to the entry of findings and the bar. He worked nearly 14 years as a formerly registered broker. Previous to working with LPL Financial, Nelson was an Edward Jones broker.

It was just last month that FINRA permanently barred ex-LPL Financial broker Philip John Nalesnik, whom the broker-dealer also fired last year.

Former LPL Financial Broker is Barred from the Securities Industry

Published on: May 24, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

On May 17, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued a permanent bar against former Pennsylvania LPL Financial representative Philip John Nalesnik.

According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck records, Nalesnik was in the securities industry for roughly 17 years, from 2002 until he was kicked out in 2019. Nalesnik previously worked at IDS Life Insurance Company, American Express Financial Advisors, CCO Investment Advisors and, for almost a decade, LPL Financial, LLC.

Prior to receiving his FINRA bar, Nalesnik had a very questionable regulatory history. Nalesnik’s CRD shows that he has had at least five customer complaints, one criminal complaint, at least two tax liens and a personal bankruptcy, much of which happened while Nalesnik was a registered representative of LPL Financial.