John Patrick Donnelly of Houston Texas a stockbroker currently employed by Merrill Lynch is referenced in an investment related civil action in which unspecified damages were alleged supported by accusations of Donnelly failing to adjust the customer’s retirement account resulting in unintended beneficiaries receiving assets from a customer’s Merrill Lynch account. Civil Action No. 477195-401…
North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) released its annual list of top investor threats. The top investor threats were compiled from a survey from the various state securities regulators to identify the five most problematic schemes. Following the launch of the Investment Fraud Bingo Program, it is uncertain whether the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of…
A group of investors filed a class-action lawsuit on January 15, 2008 seeking nearly $500 million dollars in damages from Morgan Stanley, alleging their broker, Michael James Kazacos, gave them fraudulent investment advice and made false promises to Eastman Kodak retirees that never materialized. The plaintiffs are all former employees of Eastman Kodak Co in…
After he misappropriated $734,000 from various customers, Joel W. Carlson, a former broker with Sagepoint Financial Inc., was permanently barred from the business by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Carlson is also facing a civil lawsuit alleging $50,000 in damages stemming from fraudulent indexed annuity sales and misappropriation. The litigation is pending 2nd Judicial…
Robert Bales, the US Army staff sergeant accused of massacring 16 Afghan civilians, was a former stockbroker, who enlisted in the U.S. Army to apparently avoid paying an elderly Ohio couple of their life savings in a stock fraud. According to FINRA records, from 1996 through 2000, Bales was associated with at least seven brokerage…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has sanctioned Christine L. Cantone and her firm for their failure to supervise a broker who sold fictitious investments to customers through which he misappropriated over $1.6 million. Cantone & Cantone Research Inc. Censored & Fined Pursuant to an FINRA order dated Feb. 22 that accepted an offer of…
A federal judge in Los Angeles has ordered Stanley C. Brooks, the former CEO of Brookstreet Securities Corp., to pay the maximum civil penalty of $10 million in a securities fraud case that goes back to the financial crisis, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on March 2. According to the docket, Judge David…
Clyde M. Thornburg, a former stockbroker with NEXT Financial Group Inc., was charged earlier this month with unsuitable short-term trading and switching in the accounts of elderly and unsophisticated investors. The FINRA Complaint On Feb. 9, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) filed a complaint against Thornburg, a Florida-based registered representative with NEXT. The affected…
Philip Eckstein, a former MetLife Securities Inc. broker, was permanently barred from association with any members of the Financial lndustry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) after he converted $10,000 of an elderly customer’s money to his own use. FINRA announced the sanction in a February 8, 2012 Order accepting Eckstein’s offer of settlement after a disciplinary proceeding…
Family members may want to stay informed about this aspect of their relatives’ lives, to make sure unscrupulous financial professionals do not take advantage of senior citizens who are cognitively impaired. About 5.2 million Americans over the age of 65 suffer from Alzheimer’s, according to a 2011 report from the Alzheimer’s Association. About 200,000 people…
Former stockbroker Ralph Edward Thomas Jr., who pleaded guilty to mail fraud in September, has been barred for life by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for conversion of more than $800,000 in customer funds to his own use. According to FINRA, Thomas misappropriated the money from three vulnerable customers between December 2001, and July…
Former LPL Financial Corp. stockbroker Amrita Holden has been permanently barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for wrongfully converting about $187,000 in customer funds to her own use. While employed by LPL, Holden forged the signature of an elderly customer on distribution request forms for the customer’s Individual Retirement Account (IRA). These forms…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a former broker in South Florida, Gary J. Gross, who allegedly defrauded senior citizens and other customers through a variety of abusive sales practices, garnering him more than $700,000 in commissions and fees while causing more than $2.7 million in investor losses. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox announced the…