Alfonse Joseph Stazzone Jr of Holmdel New Jersey a stockbroker formerly registered with Woodstock Financial Group has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended for four months from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon findings that Stazzone made unsuitable and excessive trades in a customer’s account when Stazzone was associated with Woodstock Financial Group. Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent No. 2018060806601 (Aug. 16, 2021).
According to the AWC, from September of 2017 to August of 2018, during the period that Stazzone was associated with Woodstock Financial Group, he made quantitatively unsuitable trades in a customer’s account.
The 57-year-old customer had limited investment experience and only invested in mutual funds through their retirement account before Stazzone came into the picture. The AWC stated that the customer established an account at Woodstock Financial Group using money that came from savings bonds. Stazzone and another stockbroker then made all the recommendations for the customer’s account. The regulator determined that Stazzone exercised control over their account for this reason.
The AWC stated that frequent trades were made by Stazzone. This resulted in the customer’s account having an annualized cost-to-equity ratio of 221.56. For the customer to break even based on Stazzone’s trading, they would have needed to generate a 221 percent return. Over $173,000.00 had been paid in commissions by the customer during this period. FINRA found that Stazzone’s trading was unsuitable and excessive given the customer’s investment profile. He violated FINRA Rules 2010 and 2111 for this reason.
Stazzone has been identified in three customer initiated investment related disputes concerning allegations of his misconduct while employed by securities broker dealers including Brecek Young, VFinance Investments Inc. Chelsea Financial Services and Woodstock Financial Group. FINRA Public Disclosure shows that a customer filed an investment related complaint regarding Stazzone’s conduct where the customer sought $5,410.00 in damages founded on accusations that unauthorized trades were executed in their account during the time that Stazzone was associated with Brecek Young.
Another customer filed an investment related complaint concerning Stazzone’s conduct in which the customer requested $150,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that their investments had poorly performed, and that they were required to pay inappropriate commissions on transactions effected by Stazzone at VFinance Investments.
Stazzone is also the subject of a customer initiated investment related FINRA securities arbitration claim which was settled for $60,000.00 in damages supported by accusations that Stazzone made fraudulent misrepresentations and had breached a fiduciary duty to the customer as it related to over-the-counter equities transactions at Chelsea Financial Group and Woodstock Financial Group. FINRA Arbitration No. 17-02246 (Oct. 16, 2017). According to the claim, Stazzone excessively traded and churned the customer’s account at WFG and had defrauded them. The claim also alleges the violation of state and federal securities laws and the violation of Minnesota Insurance statutes. Allegations also include negligence and breach of contract.
Stazzone was registered with Woodstock Financial Group between May 15, 2013 and December 2, 2019. He was also registered with Garden State Securities between November 7, 2019 and March 24, 2021, and registered with Monmouth Capital Management LLC between April 15, 2021 and July 30, 2021.
