Even with the frequency of enforcement actions slowing during the summer months, both FINRA and the Texas State Securities Board have brought or settled several significant enforcement actions against broker dealers, summarized below. Recent FINRA Enforcement Actions: FINRA Fines Prudential Annuities Distributors, Inc. $950,000 On July 19, 2016, FINRA announced it had fined Prudential Annuitites…
UK EXITS EU Britain’s historic decision to exit the European Union has left global markets uncertain, leading to disruption and losses across Europe and the United States. Investors, concerned the fall out from the UK’s exit could potentially lead to a financial crisis have begun to pull money out of the market. The morning following…
FINRA has censured PTX Securities, LLC of Plano, Texas for its failure to conduct due diligence regarding oil and gas private placement offerings, and specifically, for failing to investigate the impact of an adverse money judgment against the issuer of these securities. PTX derives the majority of its revenue from its role as a managing…
United Development Investment Fraud Likely to Lead to Investor Claims A series of independent broker-dealers, including IMS Securities, Inc., Berthel Fisher & Co. Financial Services, Inc., Centaurus Financial Inc., and VSR Financial Services, Inc. are likely to face an increasing number of investor arbitration claims in the coming months related to the United Development Funding…
METLIFE SECURITE FINED $25 MILLION BY FINRA FOR MISCONDUCT RELATED TO THE SALE OF VARIABLE ANNUITIES
In a release dated Tuesday, May 2, 2016 FINRA announced it had fined MetLife Securities, Inc. $20 million dollars and ordered it to pay an additional $5 million dollars to customers of the firm in connection with repeated misrepresentations made by the company regarding variable annuity replacement applications. Typically the misrepresentations and omissions by MetLife…
The Texas Securities Board has entered a Disciplinary Order revoking the registration of Dallas Investment Advisor Sarah Helen Hancock. Among other things, Hancock apparently withdrew grossly excessive amounts of money from clients’ accounts, and on at least one occasion, fraudulently misrepresented an account’s value to justify the amount she collected as management fees. Hancock’s registration was officially revoked…
According to the Texas Securities Board, Scottrade Inc. has been fined $50,000 and reprimanded for failing to promptly notify certain customers when money was wired from their accounts to third parties. The Order was entered by Commissioner John Morgan on March 7. The fine will be paid to the General Revenue Fund of the State…
An increasing number of securities firms are marketing and offering securities-backed lines of credit, or SBLOCs, to investors. SBLOCs can be a key revenue source for securities firms, especially in times of solid market returns and growing investment portfolios, when investors may feel more comfortable leveraging their assets. Firms market SBLOCs as a type of…
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has released its list of the top threats to investors in 2016. NASAA urged investors to be particularly careful when approached with unsolicited investments, especially those involving promissory notes, oil and gas deals and real estate investment opportunities, including non-traded real estate investment trusts. “Investing is serious business,”…
The Texas State Securities Board has reprimanded and fined WFG Investments Inc. $175,000 for failing to determine whether the sales of alternative investments exposed clients to excessive risk. Specifically, the Disciplinary Order, entered Sept. 3rd by Securities Commissioner John Morgan, found WFG violated supervisory procedures it established to make sure its registered agents were selling…
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