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National Securities Corporation

National Securities Corporation (NSC) promotes itself as one of the country’s largest independent broker-dealers. NSC was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices in New York and Florida.

NSC also has several affiliates or related businesses, including Osage Investments, Inc., VFinance Investments, Inc. and National Asset Management, Inc., National Holdings Corporation and Gilman Ciocia. Through these various firms, NSC has underwritten a large number of securities offerings for companies, some of which have either failed or have disappointed investors thus far.

When such investments go bad, investors are often left with few, if any, options to recover their lost funds. However, FINRA arbitration offers investors a potential path to recovery of their investment losses. Silver law is a law firm with over 20 years experience in the FINRA arbitration and resolution process in recovering investor funds lost due to broker misconduct and mismanagement. Our lawyers will guide you through every step of the arbitration process with personal and professional support.

Regulatory Violations

National Securities Corporation has been the subject of many regulatory matters.
Of approximately 70 FINRA disclosures, at least 15 are customer initiated arbitrations against the firm.
Silver Law is actively investigating several current and former National Securities advisors. Some of the alleged misconduct includes: unsuitable investment recommendations, unauthorized trading, over-concentration, and churning.

Public Securities Offerings

NSC has a long list of companies for which it has served as an underwriter in public securities offerings, some of which have been delisted or fallen significantly in share value.

Examples:

Puerto Rico “Junk” Bonds Sold Below Minimum Denomination

In November 2014, National Securities Corporation was censured and fined $60,000 by the Securities and Exchange Commission for executing a solicited sales transaction in Puerto Rican non-investment grade, or “junk” bonds, below the $100,000 minimum denomination of the issue established by the issuer, Puerto Rico. This was charged as a violation of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

Failure to Supervise

The State of Indiana Securities Division and NSC signed an Order of Consent and agreed to a fine in December 2013 for failure to supervise a broker doing business in Indiana. The Division alleged the broker was not yet registered in Indiana when he opened accounts with clients residing in Indiana. As alleged, a supervisor approved the new account documents.

Conducting A Securities Business While Net Capital Deficient

FINRA alleged that National Securities Corporation continued to conduct a securities business while the firm was facing a net capital deficiency due to a variety of accounting errors and violations. In addition, it is alleged that the firm filed a series of untimely and inaccurate financial entries, including repeatedly overstating its net capital for the last business day of every month, and therefore booked transactions for which there was no economic support. On July 15th, 2013, National Securities agreed to pay a $40,000 fine in order to settle the allegations. (Case # 2011026724701).
FINRA Fines and Sanctions – National Securities Corporation
National Securities Corporation (CRD #7569, Seattle, Washington) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $65,000 for failing to establish and implement policies, procedure and internal controls reasonably expected to detect suspicious transactions. As alleged, the firm failed to identify or ignored red flags involving numerous instances of potentially suspicious securities transactions. (FINRA Case #2009018196502).

National Securities Corporation (CRD #7569, Seattle, Washington) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and ordered to pay restitution of $175,000 for failing to have reasonable grounds to believe that private placements offered by Provident Royalties, LLC and Medical Capital Holdings, Inc. were suitable for any customer. As alleged, NSC failed to conduct adequate due diligence of private placements offered and failed to establish, maintain and enforce a sufficient supervisory system designed to comply with rules in connection with the sale of private placements. Even when the issuers of these investments failed to make timely interest payments and defaulted on principal payments, NSC continued to allow its representatives to sell additional offerings. The missed interest payments and defaults should have been a red flag to NSC of possible problems with the offerings. (FINRA Case #2009019068201).

On December 4th, 2014, National Securities Corporation (CRD #7569, Seattle, Washington) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $35,000 for allegedly filing late paperwork with FINRA, as well as reclassifying customer complaints as sales practice violations. The firm was also alleged to have failed to report settlements of customer FINRA dispute resolution claims for damages exceeding $15,000 within the required time period. (Case # 2011025633901).

On April 15th, 2015, National Securities Corporation (CRD #7569, Seattle, Washington) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $20,000 for reportedly failing to disclose that the firm would receive selling compensation for a private placement that it had marketed to potential investors. (Case # 2013036454901)

On December 29th, 2015, National Securities Corporation (CRD #7569, Seattle, Washington) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $4,000 for allegedly engaging in dishonest and unethical business practices, by both employing an individual who engaged in cold-calling without being registered as an agent under Connecticut securities law, and employing one or more agents who used sales presentations to mislead potential customers. FINRA also alleges that the firm did not maintain accurate and current books and records, as well as failed to create and maintain a system to supervise employees. (Case # CO-15-8256-S).

FINRA Arbitrations

National Securities Corporation has been the subject of several FINRA arbitration claims which have resulted in awards to claimants. One such claimant was awarded over $200,000 in compensatory damages, interest, costs and attorney’s fees in an award that found the NSC broker churned the claimant’s account and purchased stock which was unsuitable for the claimant because of her age, disability, investment objectives and needs.

On March 21st, 2001, a claimant was awarded more than $500,000 after alleging that National Securities Corporation employees had engaged in churning and unauthorized trading. (Case # 01-01187).

On October 5th, 2001, another claimant was awarded more than $145,000 after alleging that National Securities Corporation employees had engaged in breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, misrepresentation, the omission of facts, recommending unsuitable investments and failure to supervise. (Case # 01-04480).

In March of 2003, a case with the same allegations resulted in the claimant being awarded more than $80,000. (Case # 03-01071). In two similar cases in 2007 (Case # 07-00468) and 2011 (Case #11-02908), claimants were respectively awarded $159,000 and $219,000 for making similar allegations against National Securities.

Silver Law Group

Silver Law Group is a nationally recognized securities and investment fraud law firm with Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ “AV” rated lawyers that handle all securities arbitration matters on a contingency fee basis. The Law Firm, at no cost to investors, will review account activity and account statements to determine whether there was any misconduct, whether there are damages and the legal causes of action. We investigate all sales practice violations while taking into consideration the investor’s age, investment background, and the relationship between the investor and the brokerage firm and its financial advisor. According to securities industry rules and regulations, unsuitable investment advice, securities concentration, fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions of material facts, breach of fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, variable annuity switching are among the causes of action that may be available to investors in claims for damages against brokerage firms and their financial advisors in a securities arbitration claim filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). We represent investors in FINRA arbitration claims on a contingency fee basis.

Client Reviews
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“My in-laws lost their retirement funds to a dishonest broker. Silver Law Group and Scott Silver aggressively pursued their losses until he got their money back.” Ben M.
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“I foolishly gave my money to a con artist promising me a great return on my money. Scott Silver zealously handled the matter, recovering my losses.” Darren S.
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“I almost lost a lifetime of earnings after trusting the wrong person. Silver Law Group guided me through the arbitration process and a mediation, always fully prepared and committed to my case.” Scott T.