Securities Arbitration Lawyers Blog

James Thomas Booth Of LPL Financial Barred From Securities Industry For Operating Ponzi Scheme James Thomas Booth (CRD# 1906145), the founder of Booth Financial Associates and a registered representative with LPL Financial LLC in Norwalk, Connecticut has been permanently barred by the both the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and…

Roger Owens (CRD# 2359204), a broker previously employed by Cetera Advisors LLC in Elkton, Maryland, has been suspended by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) from acting as a broker. Owens worked for Cetera for the past decade. Owens began in the industry in 1994. His problems began when he…

Ricky Mantei (CRD# 1098981), a broker with Centaurus Financial, Inc. in Lexington, South Carolina is facing nine pending customer disputes as well as two regulatory disputes. Mantei has been with Centaurus since 2015, where he moved from the infamous J.P. Turner & Company, a firm that has since been shut…

In the past three years, Robert Douglas Armstrong (CRD# 5236735) (a/k/a R. Douglas Armstrong), a broker with Dawson James Securities, Inc. of Boca Raton, Florida, has settled five customer disputes and is currently facing two additional pending disputes. Prior to joining Dawson James Securities in 2012, Armstrong worked for Aurora…

Katherine Greer Nishnic (CRD# 2499553) of Centaurus Financial, Inc. in Lexington, South Carolina, faces seven pending customer disputes, six of which arose this year. Prior to joining Centaurus Financial in 2015, Nishnic worked for First Allied Securities, Gunnallen Financial, Inc., and J.P. Turner & Company, a firm that has since…

Approximately one year ago a customer lodged a dispute with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against broker Jeanpierre Ayala (a/k/a J.P. Ayala) (CRD# 2765730) due to conduct that occurred while Ayala was employed by Laidlaw & Company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Ayala is currently registered with Westpark Capital in…

Stephen Carver (a/k/a Stephen Corley Carver) (CRD# 2230161) of Peoria, Illinois, who was last registered with Lifemark Securities Corp., faces a pending customer dispute alleging elder abuse and seeking $9,300,000 in damages. Prior to his time at Lifemark Securities in Peoria Illinois, Carver was registered with Cetera Advisors LLC, Brewer…

In July 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), suspended Linda Zara (a/k/a Linda Zaramontoya) (CRD# 2322009) of Summit Brokerage Services, Inc. in Boca Raton for “borrow[ing] $44,292 from a 94 year old member firm customer without providing prior notice to, or obtaining prior written approval from her firm.” The…

Perry Santillo, an investment manager based in Rochester, New York, has pleaded guilty to participating in a $115 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least a thousand investors by convincing them to invest in businesses that had little or no operations. He and his associate Christopher Parris solicited investments in…

Law.com published an article regarding Silver Law Group’s racketeering lawsuit against Tallahassee, Florida attorney and investment fund manager Phillip Timothy Howard. The article is titled “Embattled Florida Attorney Took Ex-FSU Professor’s Life Savings, Lawsuit Claims”. The lawsuit, filed on November 12, 2019 in the Northern District of Florida, claims that…