Articles Posted in Stockbroker Misconduct

Silver Law Group is investigating Woodbury Financial Services (“Woodbury”) broker Daniel J. Dunn (CRD# 3105100) for customer complaints filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) against the broker. According to Dunn’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, there are five customer complaints against him, four of which have settled for a total…

While it has been argued by investor advocates for a long time that a fiduciary duty applies to those individuals that give investment advice to others, the Department of Labor (DOL) finally put the issue to rest with respect to retirement accounts.  After six years in the making, the DOL…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Oregon-based Aequitas Management, LLC (“Aequitas”), and several of its executives with operating a $350 million investment scheme that defrauded investors in a last-ditch effort to raise funds to save Aequitas from a complete financial collapse. Aequitas, along with CEO Robert J.…

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) BrokerCheck website, a customer filed a complaint against Teutonico (CRD# 2875434) on November 23, 2015 for excessive trading. This is the eleventh disclosure on his checkered broker report and the fifth in the last year.  Teutonico has been employed by Network 1…

After serving 10 years in prison for prior securities law violations, investment fraud orchestrator Edward Durante is back in the news for allegations of a penny stock pump-and-dump scheme. Durante was criminally charged in December 2015 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and civilly…

A grand jury of the U.S District Court in Spartanburg, S.C. indicted former broker Claus C. Foerster (CRD# 1912949) for defrauding clients of $2.8 million over a 14-year period. Foerster perpetrated the fraud from 2000 to June 2014 while employed as a financial advisor at Smith Barney & Co., Morgan…

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (“FINRA”) charged a broker for lying to a Native American tribe about $11 million in commissions he accumulated when he sold the tribe $190 million in nontraded real estate investment trusts and business development companies. According to the complaint, Gopi Krishna Vungarala (CRD# 4856193),…

Silver Law Group is investigating allegations made by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) against former Hollywood, Florida broker Daniel G. Kasbar (CRD# 5869994). FINRA barred Kasbar from the securities industry for failing to respond to FINRA’s requests for documents and information. FINRA was investigating Kasbar for allegedly engaging in…

Dallas securities broker Wade Lawrence was given a three-year prison sentence January 20, 2015 by a Texas federal judge after pleading guilty to offering false investments that defrauded his friends and business associates out of more than $1.5 million for his own benefit. The federal court also ordered Lawrence, 43,…

According to FINRA Disciplinary actions for January 2016, the following individuals were barred from FINRA and cannot currently work for a FINRA brokerage firm for failing to provide FINRA with information it requested or to keep information current with FINRA pursuant to FINRA rules: NAME FORMER EMPLOYERS   Antonio Ambrosio…