John Dennis Lowry of New York New York the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Member of Spartan Capital Securities LLC is referenced in a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim in which customers were collectively awarded $330,000.00 based upon findings that Lowry and Spartan Capital Securities LLC (1) breached fiduciary duties to the customer (2) negligently transacted in the customer’s account (3) executed unauthorized and excessive trades (4) charged the customer excessive fees or commissions (5) converted the customer’s funds (6) defrauded the customer and (7) engaged in conduct violative of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Rules. FINRA Arbitration No. 16-03605 (Aug. 24, 2018).
The Award states:
Claimants asserted the following causes of action: excessive
commissions, excessive trading, unsuitability, conversion, fraud (statutory and common law), unauthorized trading, negligence, negligent supervision, breach of fiduciary relationship, control person liability, violation of FINRA rules, respondeat superior, and vicarious liability. The causes of action related to two accounts Claimants held with Spartan. The first account was opened in or around January 2011 and involved Gainer (“First Account”). The second account was opened in or around 2012 and involved Murray (“Second Account”). Claimants alleged that Spartan, Murray, and Gainer treated both accounts as discretionary, trading excessively and without authorization in a pattern designed primarily to generate excessive commissions.
FINRA Arbitration No. 16-03605 (Aug. 24, 2018).
FINRA Public Disclosure confirms that Lowry has been identified in four additional customer initiated investment related disputes containing accusations of his misconduct while employed with Spartan Capital Securities LLC. Specifically, on October 21, 2009, a customer filed an investment related complaint regarding Lowry’s activities where the customer requested $300,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that margin was inappropriately utilized in the customer’s account, and over-the-counter equities trades were effected on an excessive basis.
Thereafter, on June 28, 2013, a customer filed an investment related complaint involving Lowry’s conduct in which the customer sought $17,288.60 in damages supported by accusations that investment recommendations made to the customer were not suitable in regard to the mutual funds purchased for the customer’s account. Subsequently, a customer filed an investment related arbitration claim regarding Lowry’s activities where the customer requested $163,886.16 in damages founded on allegations that misrepresentations had been made to the customer concerning options and equities held in the customer’s investment portfolio. FINRA Arbitration No. 15-02871 (Dec. 17, 2015).
Moreover, Lowry was subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim in which the customer was awarded $41,842.00 in damages founded on Lowry and Spartan Capital Securities having been found liable on the customer’s claims of there being inappropriate, unauthorized investments executed in the customer’s investment account; misrepresentations made about the investments purchased by the customer; breaches of contractual and fiduciary obligations; churning of the customer’s investment portfolio; a lack of supervision in the customer’s account; and fraudulent activities causing the customer’s losses. FINRA Arbitration No. 15-01911 (Apr. 8, 2016).
Lowry has been associated with Spartan Capital Securities LLC since its establishment on July 10, 2008.
