Securities Arbitration Lawyers BlogFINRA Bars James Lyons After Unauthorized Trading Allegations And Employment Discharge
James Edward Lyons (CRD #1020397) is a former broker and investment advisor who was last registered with Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (CRD #705) of Shreveport, LA. He was previously employed by Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. (CRD #4161), also of Shreveport, and Capitol Securities Group, Inc. (CRD #8094). No current employment information is available. He has been in the industry since 1981.
Lyons is the subject of a current customer dispute with multiple claimants alleging a number of complaints, including unauthorized trading, fraudulent concealment, overconcentration, unsuitability and others. The actions in question occurred between 2001 and 2017. The damages requested total $5,000,000. The case is currently pending.
A similar complaint was filed on 04/29/2016, with many of the same allegations from 2/17/2011 – 4/29/2016. The client alleges unauthorized trading, churning, fraudulent omissions, suitability, and securities law violations at both the federal and state (Louisiana) level. The client requested damages of $1,200,000, and the case was settled for $400,000.
FINRA sent Pace a request for information, which he did not respond to by the requested deadline. FINRA then suspended Pace, indefinitely and in all capacities, effective 06/28/2018. Should Pace fail to request termination of his suspension within a 3-month time frame, he will be barred by FINRA from any association with any FINRA member firm. There is no indication of what prompted the request, or if any complaints were involved.
Since our last report, eight more customer disputes were recently filed against Brady, between 6/28/2018 and 07/03/2018. All these cases are pending, and the total of requested damages is an eye-watering $12,575,730.49.
Byer has a total of seven disclosures, all of them customer disputes. The most recent was filed on 06/19/2018, alleging “excessive trading, unsuitable investment recommendations and misrepresentation from 1990 until 2018.” This case is currently pending.
Rothchild is the subject of eight disclosures, the most recent of which was a customer dispute filed on 7/30/2018. In it, the client alleges “breach of contract, negligence, unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty.” Damages requested are $100,000. This case is listed as “pending.”
In 2015, while employed by Aegis Capital Corp., Claimant alleges unsuitable recommendations and excessive fees & commissions. Complaint was settled for $25,000.00.
In 2016 Claimants allege Mr. Maloney’s recommendations to purchase individual equities were unsuitable. The complaint settled for $132,500.
Galinsky was fined $7,500 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in all capacities for 10 business days. Without admitting or denying the findings, Galinsky consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he sent emails to prospective and current investors that were not fair and balanced and did not provide a sound basis for evaluating the facts regarding a company involved in a private securities offering or the offering itself. The findings stated that on two occasions, Galinsky forwarded an email to a customer, which removed references to a patent infringement lawsuit that had recently been filed against the company involved in the offering. By doing so, Galinsky caused his email to be misleading, in that it appeared to forward the entire email that he had received when, in fact, it did not.