Articles Posted in FINRA

Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass, who was instrumental in FINRA’s development of its BrokerCheck database and a proponent of investor protection, issued a letter today to FINRA’s Chairman Richard Ketchum and forwarded to SEC Chair Mary Jo White. Senator Markey’s letter criticizes improper expungement of arbitration awards from BrokerCheck records, a practice that the Public…

The high profile case featured today in an abc exclusive video shows that investors feel some sense of resolution knowing that Walter and Kelly Ng (the duo who reportedly devised a scheme that robbed investors of millions of dollars), might do time for their alleged crime. However, it remains to be seen if investors will…

Our original concerns about Wells Fargo Broker Adorean Boleancu have escalated. In March, Boleancu was ordered by FINRA to pay back a widowed client $650,000. He was indicted on charges of check fraud and money laundering in California and, in a civil complaint filed in August of 2012, it was alleged that Boleancu made an…

(December 29) The case of a Florida retiree cheated out of his life savings highlights the tragic depth of financial abuse of the elderly. Ninety-one-year-old Joe Forrest of Sarasota lost $246K to former broker Paul Arnold of Raymond James & Associates. Only the accidental intervention of a caring acquaintance led to an investigation and, ultimately,…

(December 27) FINRA has fined five major U.S. banks $4.48M for their misconduct in underwriting municipal bonds. Between 2006 and 2010 the five banks (Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley) underwrote municipal and state bond offerings in California, made payments to the lobbying group California Public Service Association (Cal PSA) for their…

(December 14) Crowdfunding advocates and entrepreneurs continue to eagerly monitor the progress of regulators at FINRA, as it develops interim rules to allow the advertisement and sale of equity securities online. “Funding portals” as authorized under the JOBS Act signed in April remain illegal until regulation is complete. The most optimistic projection for having rules…

Faced with proof that FINRA arbitration hearings have been secretly recorded at least three times, FINRA is making an official policy against the practice. These complaints came from the Securities Experts’ Roundtable Inc., a group of expert witnesses, who had their expert testimony leaked outside the hearing rooms. Of course we agree that recordings should…

(November 29) FINRA has formally proposed that broker-dealers and their employers reveal the terms of their compensation, which normally include bonuses and incentives. Industry reaction has, predictably, been loud and indignant. Regulators point out that Registered Investment Advisors are already under similar restrictions; that compensation and bonus structures for brokers can potentially lead to conflicts…

(November 23) What is apparently the largest insider-trading case in history has been filed by the Manhattan office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bahrara against a former portfolio manager for Steven A. Cohen’s well-known SAC Capital Advisors LP. The criminal complaint charges Mathew Martoma of trading on inside information of disappointing Alzheimer’s drug trials, and coming…

(October 4) For those of us tracking the progress of former Eugene, Oregon financial planner Scott McKee through the court system, today the Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner handed down an indictment with another 37 felony counts against him. The total includes nine counts of aggravated theft in the first degree, one count of…