Securities Arbitration Lawyers BlogDid You Lose Money With Atlanta, Georgia Stockbroker Sean Kelly
On October 25, 2018, the SEC obtained a court order to halt the alleged fraudulent actions of a registered stock broker and his companies.
The complaint by the SEC states that Sean Kelly used his companies, Lion’s Share Financial of East Cobb, Inc., Lion’s Share and Associates, Inc., and Lion Share Tax Services, LLC, to raise $1 million from a variety of investors. There were 12 investors, which included retirees. Kelly promised he would invest their funds into different investment products, but his promise was a lie. Instead of investing their funds into private placements and real estate, he used it on his own personal expenses. He continued to steal their money after receiving a SEC subpoena, and didn’t show up to his scheduled testimony. He used their money to buy Super Bowl tickets, expensive vacations, and also for cash withdrawals. The SEC alleges that Kelly has engaged in this fraud scheme since 2014, when he was still affiliated with Capital Financial Services.
Kelly was a representative of Center Street Securities from August 2017 to October 2018. He worked with Capital Financial Services from August 2012 to August 2017 in Marietta, Georgia. His records show that he filed for bankruptcy twice, in 2009 and in 2014.
Ginsberg is the subject of two disclosures in his record. Both are customer disputes filed in 2017, and are currently pending.
Faraco is the subject of three disclosures. Two are for one specific incident.
Between 2008 and 2015, Kim was accused of soliciting the business of individuals who were retired or near retirement age, and recommended that they liquidate their pension plans and 401(k) to invest with him in so-called “alternative investments,” including things like non-traded 
On September 7, 2018, the SEC charged Aquino with defrauding customers by engaging in “churning” to generate excessive commissions for himself, in the amount of $930,000. Aquino’s customers lost a total of $881,000. At the time of these allegations, May 2014 through November 2017, Aquino was registered with Meyers Associates, L.P. (now known as Windsor Street Capital.) The SEC complaint also states that in 2015 and 2016, Aquino and an unnamed colleague engaged in cold-calling leads acquired from a publicly available database.
Broker Emil Bottvinnik (
Foust currently has seven disclosures on his record, all customer disputes, one of which was closed without action. These customer disputes were all filed in the period between June 2017 and July 2018.
Two customer disputes were filed in May of 2018, both alleging overpayment of commissions, totaling $2,010,939.01. These disputes are currently listed as “pending.” According to FINRA documentation, Chong was under review for these disputes, which were related to large, institutional trades, and his registration with Raymond James was voluntarily terminated on May 22, 2018. He is not currently associated with any FINRA-member firm.
Downing is also the subject of a customer dispute, filed on 07/05/2018. In it, the client alleges that Downing “between 2013 and 2018. . .excessively traded client’s account.” Requested damages are $1M, but no additional details are available. It is not known if this case is related to the FINRA action that let to Downing ultimately being barred indefinitely.