A National Securities Arbitration & Investment Fraud Law Firm
As of June 6th, 2016, FINRA member firms are required to place a link on their website to their BrokerCheck reports. This gives potential clients and investors more information than ever before about the brokers and firms they’re thinking of investing with.
Whether you’ve decided to file a FINRA arbitration claim or a request for mediation, adequate preparation is essential to if you want to give yourself the best chance of being awarded the funds you’ve lost through broker fraud or other FINRA sales practice violations.
Kenneth Kolquist began his career in the financial services industry in 2006 in Duluth, Minnesota. Since his first position with A Plus Financial Group, he has worked for various firms including Securities America, Financial Network, and most recently for Cetera Advisors Networks, where he worked from 2009 to 2015.
While employed by Cetera, Kolquist was accused of:
After 40 years in the financial services industry, Ralph Savoie has been permanently barred by the FINRA. His most recent place of employment was as a broker for the firm Cambridge Investment Research in Metairie, Louisiana where he worked from 2013 to 2015. He also worked for ING Financial Partners in Baton Rouge from March 2007 to July 2013.
FINRA barred Savoie as a result of his refusal to respond to requests for information pertaining to an investigation. He is being investigated for misappropriating funds of $665,000 from one client and for outside business activity without approval. He has also been accused of fraud for selling a client a life insurance policy that was priced well beyond the client’s means.
When it comes to working with financial advisors, it’s essential to know your rights. Many financial advisors do not have the best interests of their clients at heart and are willing to take unethical and illegal actions in order to increase their profits.
Even if your financial advisor is well intentioned, they may be unknowingly violating your rights by not fully informing you of the potential risks of your investments or they may be placing you in investments grossly unsuitable for your financial goals.
A securities arbitration attorney can be an essential asset if you have questions about what a financial advisor is doing with your money, have been under-informed or misinformed about your investments, or are facing an upcoming hearing with the Financial Investment Regulatory Authority (FINRA) about your investments. Here are five signs you should contact your securities arbitration attorney today:
If you’ve only recently realized that you were defrauded by your broker or financial advisor, or have been waiting until obtaining the proper evidence to take legal action against them, it’s essential to know the statute of limitations on security fraud. The amount of time you have to make a case against the investment professional who has defrauded is two to five years under federal law, but there are some circumstances that determine when your clock actually starts ticking.
Stockbrokers and financial advisors have a legal duty to put your financial well-being before their own when they make decisions about your investments. However, some financial professionals aren’t willing to wait until you make money to increase their profits.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, 30.2 million people are defrauded each year for losses that total close to $3 billion. While a significant amount of this is the result of broker fraud, surveys indicate that only 20 to 50 percent of fraud is ever reported.
Winston Wade Turner, a broker who was most recently registered with Pruco Securities in Sarasota, Florida, is being investigated after FINRA filed a complaint against Turner in regard to numerous customer disputes, including attempting to defraud customers by convincing them to exchange their existing variable annuities and other securities while hiding these exchanges from his firm. His actions caused his clients to incur excessive surrender charges and five of his clients lost approximately $151,000.
According to FINRA, Turner falsified information in relation to the variable annuity transactions and he evaded his firm’s supervisory review process by lying to them about the source of funds in variable annuity purchases. He is also accused of deceptive conduct because he used his personal email addresses as the email address of his customers so that he would receive account notifications instead of his customers. Additionally, he submitted documents bearing forged customer signatures.
Silver Law Group is investigating the misconduct of Matthew Charles Woodard, a broker from Farmington, Connecticut. An inquiry from FINRA was initiated when Woodard was accused of converting funds from a deceased customer’s account. When asked to cooperate with the investigation, he refused to provide documentation and information and was subsequently permanently barred by FINRA.
Employed for just three short years in the financial services industry, Woodard, worked for Metlife Securities, LPL Financial, Proequities, Inc. and most recently with First Allied Securities from February 2015 to October 2015.
Securities Arbitration Lawyers Blog