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Silver Law Group is investigating Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. (CRD# 19616) broker Paul S. Plemenos (CRD# 2193190) after FINRA suspended him over unauthorized trading allegations at his former firm.

According to Plemenos’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, FINRA suspended him in July 2016 for executing trades in the accounts of customers without written authorization from the customers and without having the accounts approved as discretionary accounts by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith (CRD# 7691), Plemenos’s employing firm at the time.

FINRA and Plemenos entered into an Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) memorializing the suspension.  According to the AWC, Plemenos was ordered to pay $7,500 in fines and was suspended 30 days.

Silver Law Group is investigating BB&T Securities, LLC (CRD# 142785) broker Joseph B. Feldman (CRD# 205910) after FINRA suspended him for misrepresenting the compensation he received for serving as the trustee for a customer’s trust.

According to Feldman’s FINRA BrokerCheck report,  the suspension follows a termination of Feldman by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. (CRD# 7691) on February 2016, which vaguely states the reason for discharge as “conduct involving failure to follow the Firm’s directive related to an approved outside business activity.”

In July 2016, FINRA suspended Feldman for three months and fined him $5,000.  According to the Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) entered into between Feldman and FINRA, Feldman disclosed that he was serving as trustee for a relative’s trust, as allowed by his employing firm.  However, Feldman later falsely stated to the firm’s compliance department that the trust was not going to compensate him for trustee services.  A supervisor later detected that a check Feldman received was in fact a payment from the trust.

FINRA suspended New York-based broker Peter G. Alcure (CRD# 2406903) after he settled a customer’s losses without bringing the demand and subsequent settlement to his employing firm, Petersen Investments, Inc. (CRD# 38537).

According to Alcure’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, FINRA suspended him in July 2016 for one month after one of his customers verbally demanded that he pay her $20,000 to compensate her for losses she incurred in her account.  According to the Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) entered into between Alcure and FINRA, Alcure failed to notify his firm about the verbal demand or the settlement of the claim.

Alcure, according to the AWC, sent the customer approximately 21 checks totaling an amount of approximately $12,500 to compensate her for her losses.  Alcure was suspended for one month and fined $5,000, according to the AWC.

Scott L. Silver, Managing partner of Silver Law Group was recently sourced in an InvestmentNews article discussing the issue of unpaid FINRA arbitration awards for brokerage firms that are going out of business.

According to the InvesmentNews report, FINRA reported that the number of brokerage firms open for business today is 13 percent less than were opened in 2011.  These closing firms are obviously not the one making big dollars for their customers or else they’d still be in business, and that poses a problem for many aggrieved investors seeking retribution for securities misconduct and fraud.

Sometimes, the FINRA arbitration awards simply go unpaid.

Silver Law Group is investigating former Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC (CRD# 19616) broker Robert T. Tuffy (CRD# 1201052) after FINRA barred him over unauthorized trading allegations.

According to Tuffy’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, FINRA suspended him in July 2016 for executing six trades in two accounts of a customer prior to receiving the customer’s authorization.  FINRA and Tuffy entered into an Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”) memorializing the sanction.

The suspension follows a termination of employment by Wells Fargo in October 2015, according to the BrokerCheck report.

Silver Law Group is investigating former Pennsylvania-based LPL Financial LLC (CRD# 6413) broker David Garrett Shaw (CRD# 4146204) after FINRA permanently barred him.

FINRA permanently barred Shaw in August 2016 after he failed to respond to a FINRA inquiry for information.  The bar permanently precludes Shaw from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities to the public.

The bar follows a FINRA arbitration filing in March 2016 that is currently pending.  The FINRA arbitration alleges misrepresentation and unsuitable recommendations.

Silver Law Group is investigating Independent Financial Group, LLC (CRD# 7717) broker Russell Leo Sadler (CRD# 2600742) after FINRA suspended him for an entire year over allegations of conducting business outside of his firm.

FINRA suspended Sadler for a full year in September 2016 after the regulatory body and Sadler entered into an Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (“AWC”).  According to the AWC, Sadler consented to the entry of findings that he engaged in private securities transactions without providing prior written notice to his member firm or receiving written approval from the firm.

The findings state that Sadler invested at least $200,000 in the securities of a company which had proposed to build a movie studio in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Silver Law Group is investigating former Long Island City, New York-based LPL Financial LLC (CRD# 6413) broker Michael Quiles III (CRD# 4351166) after FINRA suspended him.

FINRA suspended Quiles in July 2016 after he failed to respond to a FINRA inquiry for information.

The bar follows a discharge from LPL Financial in February 2016.  According to Quiles’ FINRA BrokerCheck report, LPL discharged Quiles after he received a loan from a non-client in violation of LPL Financial’s policy.  Quiles operated under the moniker Financial Resources Group in Long Island City, New York.

Silver Law Group is investigating former New York-based Morgan Stanley (CRD# 149777) broker Scott P. Alcus (CRD# 2983730) after FINRA barred him for failing to comply with an arbitration award or settlement agreement or to satisfactorily respond to a FINRA request to provide information concerning the status of compliance.

According to Alcus’s FINRA BrokerCheck Report, Alcus was barred in May 2014 when Alcus failed to respond to a FINRA inquiry for information.  But, more recently, FINRA further sanctioned Alcus on September 2016 when he failed to comply with a settlement agreement or arbitration award.

Alcus has four other disclosures on his BrokerCheck report.  Two of the disclosures, both filed in November 2013, were FINRA arbitrations that settled.  The first alleged unauthorized transactions made in Alcus’s client’s account and settled for $10 million.  The second alleged unsuitable recommendations in addition to unauthorized trading and settled for $350,000.

Silver Law Group is investigating former Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (CRD# 793) broker Jon B. Schmidhammer (CRD# 1548931) after Stifel allowed him to resign following an arrest for allegedly stealing money from a client.

According to Schmidhammer’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, FINRA permanently barred Schmidhammer from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities in September 2016 after he failed to respond to a FINRA request for information.  The permanent bar follows Schmidhammer’s resignation from Stifel in July 2016, according to his BrokerCheck report.

This was not Schmidhammer’s first dark mark on his BrokerCheck report.  In February 2004, the American Stock Exchange fined Schmidhammer $10,000 after charging him with inappropriately extending credit to a customer to satisfy margin requirements, violating his employing firm’s internal procedures regarding extension of credit, and misleading the firm in an attempt to avoid detection of his wrongdoing.  Nine months later, UBS Financial Services Inc. (CRD# 7059) discharged Schmidhammer for providing inaccurate statements on his pre-employment application.