Securities Arbitration Lawyers BlogBroker Stephen Sullivan Subject of 8 Disclosures
Stephen Sullivan (CRD #3123249) is a broker currently registered with SW Financial (CRD #145012) of Melville, NY. His previous employers include Newbridge Securities Corporation (CRD #104065), Legend Securities, Inc. (CRD #44952) and Tryco Securities, Inc. (CRD #104025). Sullivan has worked in the industry since 1998, with a number of broker firms in New York State.
Sullivan has 8 disclosures in his career, the first of which is a customer dispute filed on 5/7/2018. The client alleges Sullivan engaged in unsuitable transactions, excessive trading, and failure to supervise, requesting $540,618.00 in damages. Sullivan denies the allegations. In his response, Sullivan states that the client knew about all the transactions and authorized them before they were purchased. This case is currently pending.
In 2016, Sullivan was suspended by FINRA for 10 days and fined $5,000 for “exercising discretion” with two customer accounts without prior written authorization from the clients, and without written permission from the firm. He agreed to the sanctions, signed an Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (AWC) letter, paid the fine and was suspended from 03/07/2016 through 03/18/2016.
McBride has been the subject of five customer disputes in his career. The most recent was filed on 5/1/2018, by a client alleging “unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, failure to supervise, misrepresentation, omission, and breach of contract in the purchase of 2 non traded REITs and a limited partnership between February 2006 and August 2008.” The client is requesting damages in the amount of $251,317.00. Presidential denies the claims, and McBride isn’t actually a named party in the complaint. The firm is defending itself against the claims.
Reese is the subject of five disclosures, all customer disputes dating back to 1999. The latest, filed on 05/08/2018, involved Reese misrepresented a publicly traded, illiquid product. The customer requested damages of $75,000. Reese countered that he had indeed informed the client of its illiquid nature. After the customer stated that they did not need the money for 11-20 years, the firm found that this was a suitable investment based on the provided information. Additionally, the clients indicated that the accounts were not held in their name; at the time, they were in a brokerage account by Pershing LLC. This dispute was denied.
FINRA has barred former financial advisor and broker Scott Palmer (CRD #817586) after multiple customer disputes. His last employer was Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC (CRD #463) of Hackensack, NJ, from 03/02/2007 to 06/13/2017. He was allowed to resign after “Loss of Confidence related to complaint disclosure history.” 
Kenahan is the subject of three customer disputes in 2018, with the same allegations of excessive trading, unsuitable investments and misrepresentation. The disputes were filed on 05/03/2018, 03/13/2018 and 02/02/2018. The collective timespan of these allegations is December 2007 until 2018. One client is requesting damages, in the amount of $700,000. These are the only disclosures in Kenahan’s 33-year career. He has no disciplinary actions or other disclosures.
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On 6/12/2018, the Nassau County (New York) District Attorney filed multiple criminal charges against Eckstein:
Chiellini has three recent customer disputes in her long financial career, but no disciplinary actions. The first dispute was filed on 05/21/2018, from the beneficiaries of a deceased client. The claimants alleged that Chiellini recommended unsuitable investments that resulted in a loss when they decided to liquidate. They have requested damages of $100,000. Chiellini denies the allegations, and states that she not only reviewed the investments with her original client before they were purchased, but also discussed options with the beneficiaries after the client passed away. The beneficiaries decided to liquidate rather than wait, and signed statements that they understood the loss involved by immediate liquidation instead of waiting for these securities to reach full maturity. This claim is currently pending.
Garapedian has been the subject of three FINRA customer disputes in 2018, all with similar allegations of “unsuitability.” The first one, on 3/20/2018 was denied. The second was filed on 03/22/2018 and involves the period 2013 to 2015, and is listed as “pending.” The third claim, filed on 04/01/18, requests damages of $713,000.00. Garapedian’s statement denies the allegations, and maintains that everything was discussed with the customer prior to any transactions, and the investments recommended were suitable for the client. This claim is also listed as “pending.”
Thomas Murray (CRD #721725) has received a securities arbitration claim according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) CRD system.