Articles Posted in FINRA

(September 27) FINRA has released one of its periodic Investor Alerts, this one called “When Trading Stops: What You Need to Know About Halts, Suspensions and Other Interruptions.” It explains why, when and how regulatory interruptions in securities trading happen. The document addresses both the broad-market “circuit breaker” halts triggered by a percentage drop in…

(September 24) The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has censured and fined Merrill Lynch $500,000 for failing to file some 650 required reports, and failing to acknowledge nearly 300 customer complaints, between 2005 and 2011. As the largest independent regulatory agency for securities firms operating in the United States, FINRA protects investors and maintains the…

PORTLAND, Ore.— Banks Law Office is investigating claims filed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against David Lerner & Associates (DLA) for selling non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) to seniors without disclosing the risks of the investment, violating federal securities laws. Last month, clients holding shares in non-traded REITs created by Apple REIT Cos.…

FINRA posted a tool for investors to calculate their risk for investment fraud. Answer a few simple questions on FINRA’s Risk Meter to find out if you share behaviors and characteristics that have been shown to make some investors more vulnerable to fraud. Click here to use the risk meter on the FINRA website: http://apps.finra.org/meters/1/riskmeter.aspx

According to a complaint filed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today, Tuesday, February 15th, J. Scott McKee defrauded investors of at least $370,000 and improperly used at least $650,000 of his client’s money for his own benefit. The Eugene Register-Guard reports that McKee left a trail of victims including our clients. You can…

Scott McKee Investor Update: In response to a number of recent inquiries from clients of Scott McKee, we are posting updated information. Here is what we can tell investors as of October 5, 2011. McKee No Longer at Morgan Stanley Mr. McKee’s last day at Morgan Stanley was September 30, 2011. At Morgan Stanley’s request,…

Banks Law Office, P.C. is monitoring the progress of an FBI investigation into two former Edward Jones brokers based in South Dakota who sold interests in Gibraltar Partners in an alleged Ponzi scheme fraud. Edward Jones has reported that the brokers who sold the Gibraltar Partners investment were not authorized to do so, which constitutes…

Banks Law Office represents 6 investors who have made claims as a result of investing more than $1 million in Grifphon funds. Bob Banks was quoted on Page 1 of the Portland Business Journal on August 26, 2011 in yet another article about Grifphon and its failure to pay its investors or produce records. We…

Our office continues to receive complaints and information regarding James Scott McKee. We are offering our information as a public service to investors, and as a part of our commitment to assist state and federal regulators performing their own investigations. In addition to our current investigation into Bedrocks Coffee, we are now investigating other illiquid…

A FINRA arbitration panel has just awarded over $215,000 in compensatory damages plus interest and attorney fees to a Banks Law Office client. The award came after three days of testimony in Seattle, WA. The claim alleged that top-producing Symetra Investment Services financial adviser, Gary Akiyama, solicited his long-time customer to invest money in a…