Jorge Menendez of Miami, Florida, a stockbroker registered with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., is the subject of a customer initiated investment related Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) securities arbitration claim in which the customer requested $800,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Menendez overconcentrated the customer’s account in structured notes during the time that Menendez…
Thomas Paul Tibaldi of East Meadow, New York, a stockbroker registered with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., is the subject of a customer initiated investment related FINRA securities arbitration claim in which the customer requested $44,356.00 in damages based upon allegations that Tibaldi breached his fiduciary duties to the customer, made misrepresentations and omissions of material…
Gaetano Salvatore Ciambriello, of New York, New York, a stockbroker formerly registered with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon findings that Ciambriello failed to cooperate with a FINRA investigation regarding allegations that he engaged in undisclosed outside business activities…
Najib Hossain Khan of Richmond Hill New York a stockbroker formerly registered with Citigroup Global Markets Inc. has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity founded on findings that Khan neglected to cooperate with FINRA personnel during the period that he was investigated for theft of customer…
Ryan Sanghak Lee of Wayne New Jersey a stockbroker formerly registered with Fidelity Brokerage Services is the subject of a customer initiated investment related written complaint on May 15, 2019 where the customer sought $22,000.00 in damages based upon accusations that Lee poorly advised the customer in regards to surrendering an annuity for managed account…
Donald Joseph Coleman of New York New York a stockbroker formerly employed by Citigroup Global Markets Inc. has been suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon consenting to findings that Coleman obstructed a FINRA inquiry into his activities which possibly concerned his termination from Citigroup Global…
Mark Joseph Flanagan of Highland Park Illinois a stockbroker formerly registered with Citigroup Global Markets Inc. has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon consenting to findings that Flanagan obstructed a FINRA investigation into his alleged unauthorized and unsuitable transactions. Letter of Acceptance Waiver and…
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. a broker-dealer headquartered in New York New York has been censured and fined by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) based upon the firm’s consent to findings that it took advantage of customers by overcharging them on mutual fund purchases. Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent No. 2016049977601 (Sept. 7, 2018). According…
Gary Dennis Ruiz of Huntington Station New York a stockbroker formerly employed by Citigroup Global Markets Inc. has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity founded on allegations that he neglected to respond to FINRA’s information requests. Case No. 2017054030901 (Dec. 11, 2017). FINRA Public Disclosure confirms…
Mark Joseph Flanagan of Highland Park, Illinois, a stockbroker formerly registered with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., has been suspended on June 7, 2018 from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity supported by allegations that he failed to pay Citigroup $102,022.26 in compensatory damages pursuant to FINRA Arbitration Award No….
James Patrick Acosta of New York New York a stockbroker formerly employed by Citigroup Global Markets Inc. has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon consenting to findings that he failed to cooperate with FINRA in an investigation into accusations of Acosta’s outside business activities….
Scott David Shapiro of New York New York is a stockbroker formerly employed with Citigroup Global Markets who has been terminated on April 8 2016 supported by allegations that he was under internal investigation for his potential mishandling of customer account documentation. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Public Disclosure confirms that Shapiro has been referenced…
Kenneth H. South of Newport Beach California is a stockbroker currently registered with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. who is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim in which the customer requested over one hundred sixty-one thousand dollars in damages based upon allegations that between June 1 2015 and February 1 2017 the…
Linda Sue Zara of Boca Raton Florida is a stockbroker associated with Wells Fargo Clearing Services who has been fired in December 2017 based upon accusations that she executed an unapproved customer loan arrangement in violation of Wells Fargo’s policies. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Public Disclosure confirms that a customer initiated investment related arbitration…
Gregory Edward Barr, of Boca Raton, Florida, a stockbroker formerly employed with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based on consenting to findings that he effected unauthorized transactions in customer accounts. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No….
Leonard Jay Suskind, of Aventura, Florida, a stockbroker currently employed with UBS Financial Services, Inc., is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim, where the customer requested $220,000.00 in damages based upon accusations that between 2013 and 2016, Suskind failed to follow the customer’s instructions to sell a master limited partnership position,…
Richard Alan Shotz, of Ormond Beach, Florida, a stockbroker formerly registered with Morgan Stanley, has been fined $7,500.00 and suspended for four months from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity supported by consenting to findings that he placed short-term unit investment trust trades in customer accounts that were not…
Howard Barry Steinman of Coral Springs, Florida, a stockbroker currently registered with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, is the subject of a customer initiated investment related civil action brought in the Circuit Court of Broward, Florida, in which the customer requested more than $5,000.00 in damages supported by accusations that Steinman effected unauthorized transactions in…
Jon Lewis Bowles of Pasadena, California, a stockbroker registered with FSC Securities, Inc., is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim, where the customer sought $50,000.00 in damages based upon allegations of violation of FINRA Rules, violation of state and federal laws, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation, suitability and…
Citigroup Global Markets Inc., a brokerage firm headquartered in New York, New York, has been censured and fined $5,500,000.00 by consenting to findings that the firm, inter alia, inaccurately exhibited ratings of equities that the firm offered to customers. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No. 2016048931101 (Dec. 21, 2017). According to the AWC, between…
Jonathan Scott Leopold, of New York, New York, a stockbroker currently registered with Morgan Stanley, is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim, where the customer sought $250,000.00 in damages based upon accusations that unsuitable over-the-counter equities and direct investment products had been sold to the customer between 2009 and June of…
Nadav Nachum Baum, of Pittsburgh, PA, a stockbroker formerly registered with BPU Investment Management, Inc., is the subject of a Cease and Desist sanction and $6,000.00 fine imposed by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities by consenting to findings that he violated the terms of his heightened supervision arrangement. In the Matter of: Nadav Nachum…
Stuart L. Pearl, of Deerfield, Illinois, a stockbroker formerly employed with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., is the subject of a $7,500.00 fine, and has been suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon allegations that he exercised discretion in customer accounts and made unsuitable margin-based investment recommendations…
Christopher David Sinkula, of Stuart, Florida, a stockbroker currently registered with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, has been named in a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim on July 11, 2017, in which the customer requested $100,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Sinkula over-concentrated the customer’s funds in energy sector stocks, and effected unsuitable equity…
Jeffrey Alan Smith, of Irvine, California, a stockbroker formerly registered with Accelerated Capital Group, has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended for three months from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon consenting to findings that he utilized altered and pre-signed customer documents to effect investment transactions in customer…
Luis Jacob Alayo Riera, of Miami Beach, Florida, a stockbroker registered with Raymond James & Associates, was fired on December 22, 2016, based upon allegations that he failed to comply with the terms of an internal investigation into his activities involving the facilitation of investment activities away from Raymond James. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)…
Glenn Robert King, of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, a stockbroker formerly registered with Buckman, Buckman & Reid, Inc., has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity according to a National Adjudicatory Council Decision containing findings that King made unauthorized and excessive trades in a customer’s account. In the…
Dominick Giovannone, of Manalapan, New Jersey, a stockbroker currently registered with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, is the subject of a customer initiated investment related written complaint on November 13, 2015, in which the customer requested $15,273.00 in damages based upon allegations that Giovannone made unsuitable investment recommendations to the customer concerning the holding of…
Dwain Carroll, of Holbrook, New York, a stockbroker formerly registered with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., was terminated from employment on November 5, 2015, based upon allegations that he facilitated an unauthorized transaction involving a customer’s funds by signing a customer transfer form that the customer never authorized. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Public Disclosure reveals…
Christopher D. Stoddard, of Norwell, Massachusetts, a stockbroker formerly registered with Morgan Stanley, has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon consenting to findings that he altered customer account documentation. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No. 2016051578601 (Aug. 16, 2017). According…
Robert Charles Wyman Jr., of Hyannis, Massachusetts, a stockbroker currently registered with Morgan Stanley, is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim, which settled on September 12, 2016 for $70,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Wyman made misrepresentations to the customer and effected unsuitable equity transactions in the customer’s account. Financial…
Bradley Andrew Marks, of New York, New York, a stockbroker currently registered with Morgan Stanley, is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim on May 2, 2017, in which the customer sought $68,294.16 in damages based upon allegations that Marks failed to execute upon the customer’s instructions regarding an in-house money manager…
Jaime Hazael Aguilar, of San Diego, California, a stockbroker formerly registered with Morgan Stanley, has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member based upon consenting to findings that he entered into unauthorized loan arrangements with the firm’s customers. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No. 2016050297702 (July…
Lorene Fairbanks, of Canfield, Ohio, a stockbroker registered with Ameriprise Financial, has been terminated from employment on May 18, 2017, based upon allegations that Fairbanks borrowed funds from a customer and corresponded with customers in violation of the firm’s policies. This is not the first time that Fairbanks has been terminated from employment based upon…
Joseph Erik Zenker, of Nashville, Tennessee, a stockbroker currently registered with Raymond James & Associates, Inc., is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim on June 1, 2017, based upon allegations including breach of contract, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, violation of the blue sky laws of the State of Louisiana, as…
Gregg Walter Stupinski, of Stuart, Florida, a registered representative currently registered with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim on May 1, 2017, based upon allegations against Stupinski of his failure to supervise a firm customer’s equity portfolio. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Public Disclosure reveals that…
Mortimer Joel Altshuler Jr., of Boca Raton, Florida, a stockbroker formerly registered with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim on April 3, 2017, in which the customer requested $18,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Altshuler effected corporate debt transactions that were not appropriate for the…
Leah Rebecca Bullen, of Walnut Creek, California, a stockbroker registered with Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, was terminated from employment on January 7, 2016, based upon allegations that she effected a loan arrangement with an investor outside the auspices of her firm, and did not make disclosures to the firm about her involvement in a legal…
Robert Neil Tricarico, of Westport, Connecticut, a stockbroker formerly registered with LPL Financial, LLC, has been permanently barred by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from working as an investment adviser or stockbroker, or associating with any investment adviser or brokerage firm according to an Order Instituting Administrative Proceedings pursuant to Securities Exchange Act of…
James Allen, of Skokie, Illinois, a stockbroker formerly registered with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., was terminated from employment on April 4, 2017, based upon allegations that Allen’s conduct was violative of the firm’s policies as discovered via the firm’s investigation into his client communications and review of Allen’s misstatements of customer account information. Financial Industry…
Lynn Grossman, of Westport, Connecticut, a stockbroker formerly registered with Wells Fargo Advisors, has been named in a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim on March 30, 2017, in which the customer requested $168,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Grossman made misrepresentations and unsuitable recommendations to the customer concerning a variable annuity that the…
Amy Elizabeth Elias, of Jersey City, New Jersey, a stockbroker formerly registered with E*Trade Securities LLC, has been named in a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim, in which the customer was awarded $10,000.00 in damages on April 14, 2016, based upon allegations that Elias effected unsuitable government debt transactions in the customer’s account, breached…
Christopher D. Stoddard, of Norwell, Massachusetts, a stockbroker registered with Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, was terminated from employment on November 23, 2016, based upon allegations of his conduct which coincided with Stoddard’s September 16, 2016 termination from his former employer, Morgan Stanley. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Public Disclosure reveals that Stoddard has been named…
Dario Suarez, of Ponce, Puerto Rico, a stockbroker currently registered with UBS Financial Services Inc. and UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico, has been named in a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim on January 18, 2017, in which the customer requested $1,000,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Suarez effected unsuitable transactions involving…
Dean Sadrudin Mustaphalli, of Forest Hills, New York, a stockbroker formerly registered with Sterne Agee Financial Services, Inc., has been named in a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim, which settled on December 1, 2015, for $400,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Mustaphalli made misrepresentations to the customer concerning direct investment products, and effected…
Ziv Ohel, of Deerfield, Illinois, a stockbroker formerly registered with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., has been named in a customer initiated investment related written complaint on December 6, 2016, in which the customer requested $6,521.98 in damages based upon allegations that from February of 2015 to February of 2016, Ohel made misrepresentations and unsuitable recommendations…
Victor Eugene Lambert III, of Melville, New York, a stockbroker formerly registered with Morgan Stanley, was named in a written customer complaint, which settled on April 7, 2016 for $85,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Lambert effected unsuitable equity transactions in the customer’s investment account. FINRA Public Disclosure reveals that Lambert has been identified…
John Mark Gregory, of New York, New York, was terminated from Citigroup Global Markets Inc. on March 12, 2015, based upon allegations that Gregory had customers sign blank documents which Gregory then completed without the customer’s involvement. Gregory was also alleged to have altered the data contained on forms that he had utilized previously for…
Hal Irving Marcus, of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, a stockbroker with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., was fined $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member firm in any capacity after consenting to findings that he engaged in the unauthorized discretionary trading in customer accounts. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No….
Morgan Stanley paid $9.5 million for hiding 14.5 million e-mails sought by the SEC in connection with an investigation back in 2006. Citigroup pays $720 million based upon the $71 bilion in toxic securities linked to mortgages it sold to the public. Charles Schwab paid $200 mllion in connection with the YieldPlus fiasco where it…
Citigroup Alternative Investments LLC is a subsidiary of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., and between 2002 and 2008, they raised approximately $2.898 billion from approximately 4,000 investors into two now-defunct hedge funds—the ASTA and MAT funds (“ASTA/MAT”) and the Falcon Strategies funds (“Falcon”). These funds were recommended and sold by two groups of individuals, the “financial…
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…
Occupy Wall Street filed an amicus curiae brief on May 21 urging the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm the district court’s rejection of a $285 million settlement agreement Citigroup reached last year with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve charges that the giant bank had gamed the mortgage bond market. The…
Two subsidiaries of Morgan Stanley were fined by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) earlier this month for negligently making material misrepresentations to investors regarding the call price and yield of certain fixed-income securities, as well as negligently failing to disclose that these securities were interest-only. The misrepresentations were the result of incomplete information that…
UBS Financial Services Inc. has agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) charged the firm with failure to supervise the sale of complex financial products known as non-traditional exchange-traded funds, as well as for making unsuitable recommendations of these funds. In addition to the fine, UBS Financial Services…
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. has been fined $2 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failure to supervise and for making unsuitable recommendations in connection with the sale of complex financial products known as non-traditional exchange-traded funds. The firm submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to settle a FINRA disciplinary…
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. was censured and fined $725,000 this month by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for its failure to comply with disclosure requirements. From January 2007 through about March 2010, Citigroup Global failed to comply with the disclosure requirements of Rule 2711 of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), a predecessor to…
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…
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC has been censured and fined $600,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, for failure to supervise its stockbrokers to ensure compliance with its own guidelines regarding structured products. As a result of this failure of supervision, the firm’s stockbrokers recommended a total of 14 unsuitable structured product investments…
In a superficial effort to avoid Congress enacting the Arbitration Fairness Act, in response to the perceived corruption of the arbitration process by FINRA, a “self”-regulatory organization consisting of the same brokerage firms that are the defendants or respondents in these cases, announced that it will launch a two-year pilot program later this fall. The pilot program…
NYSE HEARING BOARD DECISION 07-143 September 7, 2007 Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Violated NYSE Rule 401(a) by failing to ensure delivery of prospectuses in connection with sales of registered securities in violation of Section 5(b)(2) of Securities Act of 1933 and to deliver trade confirmations to certain customers; violated NYSE Rule 1100(b) by failing to…
NEWARK, NJ – Citigroup Global Markets Inc. has been ordered to cease and desist from violations of the New Jersey Uniform Securities Law, and to pay the state $5 million in civil monetary penalties under the terms of a consent order announced today by Attorney General Anne Milgram, Consumer Affairs Acting Director Stephen B. Nolan…