Articles Posted in Stockbroker Misconduct

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (“FINRA”) charged a broker for lying to a Native American tribe about $11 million in commissions he accumulated when he sold the tribe $190 million in nontraded real estate investment trusts and business development companies.

According to the complaint, Gopi Krishna Vungarala (CRD# 4856193), the broker, served as the unnamed tribe’s registered representative as well as its treasury investment manager. Vungarala used his position to fraudulently induce the tribe to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in nontraded REITs and BDCs and repeatedly lied about whether he and his firm received commissions for the sales.

The complaint alleges that Vungarala falsely represented to the tribe that he would not receive any commissions on purchases of the non-traded REITs and BDCs made in the tribe’s accounts in order to induce the tribe to make the purchases.

Silver Law Group is investigating allegations made by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) against former Hollywood, Florida broker Daniel G. Kasbar (CRD# 5869994).

FINRA barred Kasbar from the securities industry for failing to respond to FINRA’s requests for documents and information. FINRA was investigating Kasbar for allegedly engaging in outside business activities beyond the scope of the approval provided by his FINRA member firms, HD Vest Investment Services (“HD Vest”) and LPL Financial, LLC (“LPL”), between 2010 and 2015.

Kasbar entered the securities industry in February 2011 when he became registered with HD Vest. In March 2014, Kasbar voluntarily resigned from HD Vest and became registered with LPL as a General Securities representative.  On May 29, 2015, LPL discharged Kasbar alleging the same conduct in the FINRA investigation.

Dallas securities broker Wade Lawrence was given a three-year prison sentence January 20, 2015 by a Texas federal judge after pleading guilty to offering false investments that defrauded his friends and business associates out of more than $1.5 million for his own benefit.

The federal court also ordered Lawrence, 43, to pay $1,542,966 in restitution and forfeit $126,074 in proceeds in light of his August admission to a single charge of securities fraud at the time the criminal indictment was filed.

Beginning in January 2012 and continuing through September 2013, Lawrence engaged in a scheme to defraud to obtain funds from individuals, many of which had longstanding personal and business relationships and trusted him while he was working as a stockbroker at Southwest Securities, now part of Hilltop Securities Inc.

Silver Law Group is investigating customer complaints against Wells Fargo advisor Robert M. Giusti (“Giusti”) located in New York, NY. There are four customer complaints against Giusti and one civil action alleging a number of securities law violations, including unsuitable investments, misrepresentations, negligence, unauthorized use of margin funds, and excessive trading.

The most recent FINRA arbitration was filed in April 2015 and alleged unsuitable investment recommendations, excessive trading, and misrepresentation and omission of material facts for exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) purchased between December 2010 and June 2015 totaling $1,326,374.00 in losses. Another securities arbitration filed in January 2012 similarly alleged unsuitable investment recommendations and settled for $45,000.00.  A civil judgment was filed against Giusti in April 2015 for $1,100,000.00 by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, which was awarded this amount in a FINRA arbitration claim brought against Giusti.

Giusti entered the securities industry in 1995. He has been registered with 11 firms over the course of his career.  From November 2006 through June 2009, Giusti was employed by Citigroup Global Markets Inc.  Giusti had a brief stint with Morgan Stanley June 2009 through September 2009.  From August 2009 until December 2013, Giusti was associated with Merill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated in New York City.  Most recently, Giusti has been employed by Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC since December 2013.