Securities Arbitration Lawyers Blog

Boca Raton, Florida: Silver Law Group Securities Arbitration Attorneys Seeks to Aid Aggrieved Investors

February 20, 2019 | Silver Law Group

Have-You-Invested-Money-with-William-“Billy”-Nelson-and-Lost-300x200 Silver Law Group is investigating claims against brokers and financial advisors who committed misconduct in Boca Raton, Florida and the surrounding area.

Boca Raton is located in Palm Beach County, Florida on the east coast of the state. The city is located less than 50 miles away from Miami and less than 20 miles away from Silver Law Group offices. As of July 2015, Boca Raton’s estimated population is just over 93,000.

Boca Raton is home to the main campus of Florida Atlantic University, also known as FAU. Additionally, major supplier of office products and services Office Depot has its global headquarters in Boca Raton.

Orlando, Florida: Silver Law Group Securities Fraud Attorneys Seeks to Aid Aggrieved Investors

February 20, 2019 | Silver Law Group

iStock-492125706-300x200 Silver Law Group is investigating claims against brokers and financial advisors who committed securities misconduct in Orlando, Florida and the surrounding area.

Orlando is located in Orange County, Florida and has a population of just under 2.5 million as of July 2015, the third-largest metropolitan area in Florida.

Orlando is also known as the “Theme Park Capital of the World,” featuring numerous high-profile theme parks such as Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Epcot, Universal Studios, and Seaworld. In fact, the theme parks attracted over 66 million visitors to Orland in 2015 alone.

Tampa, Florida: Silver Law Group Stockbroker Misconduct Lawyers Seeks to Aid Aggrieved Investors

February 20, 2019 | Silver Law Group

Florida-Broker-Peter-Gouzos-Banned-by-FINRA-300x206 Silver Law Group is investigating claims against brokers and financial advisors who committed securities misconduct in Tampa, Florida and the surrounding area.

Tampa is located in Hillsborough County, Florida. It is located on the west coast of Florida on the Tampa Bay near the Gulf of Mexico. As of July 2015, Tampa’s population is estimated to be 369,075. Tampa is part of the Tampa Bay Metropolitan area, which consists of St. Petersburg and Clearwater.

Tampa features numerous attractions such as the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the theme park Busch Gardens, the Florida Aquarium, and crystal blue gulf beaches.

The Villages, Florida: Silver Law Group, Elder Financial Fraud Attorneys, Seeks to Aid Aggrieved Investors

February 20, 2019 | Silver Law Group

Silver Law Group is investigating claims against brokers and financial advisors who committed securities misconduct in The Villages, Florida and the surrounding area.

The Villages is located in Sumter County, Florida. According to FOX Business, The Villages is the fastest-growing city in America. The city, one of the fastest-growing retirement communities, also shares the same name as The Villages retirement community. It’s a Manhattan-sized city “with more golf carts than New York has taxis,” according to a Bloomberg report. Continue reading ›

Paul Murans Settles $250K Customer Dispute, Fights Unsuitability Allegations

February 19, 2019 | Silver Law Group

Have-You-Lost-Money-Investing-With-Bennett-Broad-300x225 Paul William Murans (CRD #3266607, aka “Peace Murans”) is a registered broker and investment advisor currently employed with Thurston Springer Financial (CRD #8478) of Indianapolis, IN. His previous employers include UBS Financial Services Inc. (CRD #8174) and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (CRD #7691), also of Indianapolis, and UBS Painewebber Inc. (CRD #8174) of Weehawken, NJ. He has been in the industry since 1999.

Murans is the subject of six disclosures, two of which are employment separations. His most recent disclosure was filed on 11/18/2018, carried over from his previous employment with UBS Financial Services. The client claims that from 12/2/2013 through 10/20/2017, Murans misrepresented a “life settlement contract” that was ultimately unsuitable, and unauthorized trading of “structured products.” The client also alleged that she was completely unaware that she was borrowing from her loan account. Murans denies the allegations, and has requested copies of the complaint, as has Thurston Springer Financial, but UBS has not supplied the requested information to verify the complaint. The case was settled for $250,000.

A customer dispute filed on 5/16/2018 is currently listed as “pending.” The customer alleges “Unsuitable investments, unauthorized credit line agreement, unauthorized trades, uninvested funds, lost market opportunity,” and requests damages of $183,000. Murans denies the allegations.

Broker Erik Pica Subject Of Four Disclosures Totaling Over $900K

February 19, 2019 | Silver Law Group

Boca-Raton-Financial-Advisor-Robert-Child-Faces-Yet-Another-Customer-Dispute-300x199 Erik Patrick Pica (CRD #4829533) is a currently registered broker employed with Joseph Stone Capital L.L.C. (CRD #159744) of New York, NY. His previous employers include Global Arena Capital Corp (CRD #16871, expelled by FINRA on 4/1/2016), First Midwest Securities, Inc. (CRD #21786), Chicago Investment Group, LLC (CRD #11853, expelled by FINRA on 9/14/2010) and Eastbrook Capital Group LLC (CRD #39781, expelled by FINRA on 9/23/2009), all of New York City. He has been in the industry since 2004.

Pica is the subject of seven disclosures, all customer disputes. The first one was filed on 5/10/2018, alleging “unauthorized trade of 6000 shares Rite Aid Corp unauthorized trade of 550 shares Valeant Pharmaceutical.” The client requests damages of $7,613.65. This case is currently pending.

The next customer dispute was filed on 5/4/2018, with allegations of negligence, over-concentration and suitability.” This client requests damages of $293,000. This case is also currently “pending.”

Katherine Nishnic

February 19, 2019 | Silver Law Group

Are-or-Were-Unsuitable-Non-Traded-REITs-in-Your-Portfolio-300x224-300x224 Katherine Greer Nishnic (CRD #2499553, a/k/a Katherine Greer Martinson, Katherine Diane Nishnic, Katherine G. Nishnic) is a currently registered broker employed with Centaurus Financial, Inc. (CRD #30833) of Lexington, SC. Her previous employers include J.P. Turner & Company, L.L.C. (CRD #43177), Gunnallen Financial, Inc (CRD #17609) and First Allied Securities, Inc. (CRD #32444), also of Lexington, SC. She has been in the industry since 1994.

Nishnic is the subject of three disclosures, all recent customer disputes. The first was filed on 11/18/2018, alleging that Nishnic made unsuitable recommendations as well as “other allegations” that were not disclosed. The client is asking for damages of $100,000. Nishnic denies the allegations, and indicates that this may be a client’s family creating the dispute. This case is currently “pending.”

The next customer dispute was filed on 8/21/2017, alleging that the products sold to the client while she and her late husband were customers of Nishnic’s at a different brokerage were unsuitable. This client requests damages of $95,000. Nishnic also denies these allegations. The case was ultimately closed without any action.

JPMorgan Hit With Class Action Over Spoofing Allegations

February 19, 2019 | Silver Law Group

Class-Action-1-300x150-300x150 A putative class of investors sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a group of precious metals traders employed by the bank in New York federal court Wednesday, saying they manipulated futures contracts through spoofing, days after the U.S. Department of Justice announced a former trader had pled guilty to his role in the alleged scheme.

The complaint accuses JPMorgan and its employees of manipulating the prices of precious metals futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Exchange Inc. through a spoofing scheme where its traders would place orders for futures contracts with the intent to cancel those orders before execution, which would cause investors to buy and sell at artificial prices.

According to the complaint, JPMorgan, Edmonds and several unnamed employees orchestrated a scheme “to inject materially false and illegitimate signals of supply and demand into the market and … to induce other market participants to trade against” the orders that were placed by the defendants, which resulted in the investors trading at prices, quantities and times that they may have not traded at or during that timeframe.

New York’s Regulation 187 May Cause Problems For Insurance Agents, Brokers And Their Clients

February 11, 2019 | Silver Law Group

When you purchase insurance from a broker, investment advisor or insurance agent, shouldn’t they have your best interests at heart?

Proposed-Fiduciary-Duty-Rule-Poised-to-Pass-Leaves-Brokers-Seething-300x199 New York’s Regulation 187 was designed to do just that, and could take effect as early as August of 2019. In it, agents and brokers are required to have the “best interest” of the consumer in mind when offering recommendations for their life insurance policies and annuities. Agents and brokers are not to consider any financial incentives or compensation that they might receive as a result of the financial products they offer while discussing different options for annuities and policies.

While Regulation 187 is intended to supplement New York’s existing consumer protection laws and “fill in the gaps” of regulations, it isn’t being met with resounding applause by Wall Street. According to one trade industry group, a number of issues exist with the new law that can be problematic.

LPL Financial Fined $2.75M For AML And Complaint Failures

February 11, 2019 | Silver Law Group

FINRA recently fined LPL Financial (CRD #6413) for failing to disclose customer complaints and for failures in the firm’s anti-money laundering (AML) program.

David-Levy-of-Titus-Rockefeller-LLC-Permanently-Barred-from-Broker-Activity-After-Long-Career-of-Suspicious-Activity-300x200 A misunderstanding with FINRA’s rule caused LPL to ignore dozens of customer complaints. The firm incorrectly failed to file and/or update registered representatives U4 or U5 forms to disclose dozens of reportable customer complaints that should have been filed. These claims requested compensatory damages of $5,000 or more. A representative for FINRA stated, “LPL incorrectly construed this phrase to mean that the firm was not required to report any complaint that did not expressly request compensation, even when the customer alleged a sales practice violation that caused a loss of $5,000 or more, and the complaint, when viewed as a whole, made clear that the customer was seeking compensation.” LPL has been the subject of multiple customer complaints frequently filed as securities arbitration claims, claiming significant damages.

LPL also failed to file suspicious activity reports related to its AML program. Because of inaccurate guidance in the firm’s internal processes, including a “fraud case chart,” employees failed to investigate unauthorized attempts to access customer accounts. More than 400 “hacking” attempts of customer accounts went unreported.