Unsuitable Trading Attorneys

When Unsuitable Trading Leads To Investor Losses

Our Unsuitable Trading Attorneys Are Speaking To Former Customers of Ex-Merrill Lynch Broker Robert Gerstein

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has suspended a former longtime Merrill Lynch financial advisor for allegedly recommending that some customers short-term trade their mutual fund shares and certain complex financial products that were better suited for a longer-term trading strategy. Robert Gerstein, who worked at the broker-dealer for more than four decades, consented to the six-month suspension, $5,000 fine, and $129,496 plus interest in restitution that the self-regulatory organization (SRO) imposed. However, he did so without denying or admitting to its findings. Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (investorlawyers.com) are looking into claims of investor losses by former customers of ex-Merrill Lynch stockbroker Robert Gerstein or any other financial advisor.

According to FINRA, Gerstein recommended and made more than 230 trades of Class A mutual fund shares with an approximately 198-day holding period for customers. These investments should ideally have been held for longer. He also allegedly unsuitably recommended the short-term trading of unit investment trusts (UITs) and market-linked investments and purportedly mismarked 150 sales transactions that were solicited as “unsolicited.”

Merrill reportedly has a rule in place mandating that its registered representatives assess whether a customer had a “long-term buy and hold strategy” of longer than eight years when recommending unit investment trusts. However, if one of its stockbrokers engaged in unsuitable trading, the broker-dealer could still be held liable for any resulting investor losses.

 How Can Our Trusted Unsuitable Trading Attorneys Help? 

Brokerage firms and their financial advisors must abide by FINRA’s suitability rule which requires that they have reasonable grounds for recommending any particular trade, financial product, transaction, or investing strategy to a customer. Recommending the short-term trading of an ideally long-term investment, particularly before maturity, can be costly for investors. Meanwhile, the stockbroker typically makes money in the form of commissions and fees.

Our unsuitability lawyers have represented many investors in recouping the damages they are owed for recommendations that their broker made that were inappropriate for them. We also have sued the big Wall Street firms on behalf of many clients. Over the decades, more than 90% of inventors we’ve worked with have received full or partial financial recovery.

If you call us today we can help you explore your legal options during a free case consultation. We can also let you know if you don’t have grounds for a broker unsuitability lawsuit. Should we agree to work together, we will provide you with experienced securities representation.

Call (800) 259-9010 today.