WFG Investments Representative Suspended for Unsuitable ETF Recommendations

Jay Dee Jordan, a former registered representative with WFG Investments, Inc. submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) in which he was barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for recommending and executing hundreds of unsuitable non-traditional exchange traded fund (ETF) purchases in his customers’ accounts.  FINRA found that Mr. Jordan’s unsuitable recommendations and ETF purchases resulted in his clients’ accounts sustaining realized and unrealized losses of more than $8.4 million. FINRA found that Jay Dee Jordan, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, recommended that his clients purchase over $22 million in non-traditional ETFs. Of the 84 accounts in which Mr. Jordan recommended the  non-traditional ETFs, 79 of these accounts held ETF positions for longer than thirty days, and on numerous occasions, the ETF positions were held for years.  According to FINRA, Mr. Jordan routinely failed to sell these complex products on the same day he purchased them and did not have a reasonable basis to believe that his long-term buy-and-hold recommendations were suitable for his customers. 

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WFG Investments Fined by FINRA for Failure to Supervise Unsuitable Trading

WFG Investments, Inc. has submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) in which it has been fined $150,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to supervise its registered representative’s unsuitable trading despite numerous red flags. WFG Investments is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and currently has approximately 237 registered representatives and 118 branch offices.  FINRA found that WFG Investments failed to appropriately supervise the sales practices of a registered representative who had engaged in unsuitable trading in his customers’ accounts by overconcentrating them in low-priced securities.  For example, FINRA found that during 2012, the WFG representative’s account purchases were 66% low-priced securities.  In 2013, FINRA’s findings state that the account purchases were 80% concentrated in these securities and/or illiquid and highly speculative private placement and REIT investments.

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WFG Investments Broker Barred For Recommending Investment in ATM Ponzi Scheme

Stuart Graham Dickinson, of Highland Park, Texas, was barred by the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in a default decision made by FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers for allegedly selling more than $1 million of limited partnership interests in a company supposedly acquiring and operating ATM machines which caused his investor customers to lose their entire investments. FINRA alleged that while associated with WFG Investments, Inc., Stuart Dickinson recommended and sold limited partnership interests in ATM Alliance, LP to seven customers without conducting proper and reasonable due diligence on the company.  FINRA alleges further that Mr. Dickinson failed to detect numerous red flag warnings that ATM Alliance was a fraudulent Ponzi scheme.  The seven investors Mr. Dickinson sold the ATM Alliance limited partnership interests to suffered a total loss of their investments.  Mr. Dickinson was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity and required to pay $924,000 plus interest in restitution to customers.

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WFG Fined for Supervisory Failures

WFG Investments, Inc. of Dallas, Texas submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly failing to apply sales charge discounts to curtain customers’ eligible purchases of Unit investment Trusts (UITs). WFG was subject to a similar FINRA complaint in December 2014 which alleged the firm failed to supervise a representative in connection with false statements received by clients. A UIT is a type of Investment Company that issues securities, typically called “units,” representing undivided interests in a fixed portfolio of securities. UIT units are redeemable securities that are issued for a specific term, and entitle an investor to receive his or her proportionate share of the UIT’s net assets on redemption or at termination. One way to reduce the sales fee charged on a UIT purchase is through “breakpoints” which reduce client fees based on the amount they invested.

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WFG Investments Representative Suspended for Failing to Supervise Unsuitable IRA Recommendations

Carl Busch, a Registered Principal with the Dallas, Texas based WFG Investments, Inc. (WFG) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) in which he was fined and suspended by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to adequately supervise the unsuitable IRA recommendations and transactions of a registered representative under his supervision. According to FINRA, Carl Wayne Busch, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, failed to adequately supervise or properly investigate numerous red flags in connection with a registered representative of his member firm who recommended and engaged in unsuitable trades in the Individual Retirement Account (IRA) of a retiree with known health problems, limited income, and a “moderate” risk tolerance.

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WFG Investments Broker Suspended by FINRA for Unsuitable Trading

Larry Michael Crabtree, a former Edmond, Oklahoma based registered representative with WFG Investments, Inc. consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the sanction and the entry of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he exercised discretion in a customer’s account to make unsuitable securities purchases which resulted in substantial losses to his customer. FINRA found that Larry Crabtree, of Edmond Oklahoma, exercised discretion in the IRA account of an elderly retiree with known health problems, limited income and limited liquid assets. Mr. Crabtree made purchases of securities on his customer’s behalf, one of which was a highly leveraged oil and gas exploration company, which resulted in an almost complete loss when that oil and gas company declared bankruptcy. Mr. Crabtree also exercised discretionary trades in certain customer accounts, neglecting to get the customers’ or WFG Investment’s prior written authorization as required by FINRA Rule 2010. Consequently, Mr. Crabtree was suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for six months. Due to his financial status, no monetary sanctions were imposed.

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WFG Investments Broker Named in FINRA Complaint About Fraudulent Private Placement Offering

Stuart G. Dickinson, a former registered representative with the Highland Park, Texas branch of WFG Investments, Inc. was named a respondent in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) complaint alleging that he failed to perform adequate due diligence in connection with a private placement securities offering that turned out to be a fraudulent investment. The complaint alleges that Mr. Dickinson, of Highland Park, Texas sold limited partnership interests in ATMA, LP (ATMA), a private placement securities offering involving the acquisition and operation of automated teller machines (ATMs) to seven customers of WFG Investments for $1,024,000. According to FINRA’s complaint, Mr. Dickinson failed to conduct adequate due diligence with respect to the securities investment, because the underlying business scheme of the offering was a fraud and most of the ATMs were fictional. FINRA’s complaint alleges that had Mr. Dickinson conducted proper due diligence of the offering, he would have found numerous red flags, such as stale and overstated performance history. As a result of the foregoing alleged events, Mr. Dickinson’s seven customers suffered a total loss of more than a million dollars.

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WFG Investments Hit with $700,000 Fine for Due Diligence and Supervision Lapses

WFG Investments, Inc. of Dallas, Texas submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm consented to, but it did not admit to or deny, the described sanctions and the entry of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that it failed to conduct appropriate due diligence and supervision with respect to a private placement offering and that a registered representative sold an investment away from the firm as an approved private securities transaction. FINRA found that in various times between March 2007 and January 2014, “the Firm failed to commit the necessary time, attention and resources to an array of critical regulatory obligations related to its supervision of registered representatives.” Clients who invested in the private placement offering allegedly lost their entire investment. FINRA also found that WFG Investments failed to supervise its representatives, who allegedly recommended the sale of high risk equity and ETF purchases for a retired client with conservative risk tolerance. In addition, WFG Investments failed to supervise a representative’s private securities transactions. According to FINRA, the WFG representative allegedly structured and sold two funds that had substantial investments (exceeding the 50% limit) without investors’ knowledge. All private placement investors allegedly “lost 100% of their investments resulting from a related entity’s fraudulent business practices.” Consequently, WFG Investments was censured and fined $700,000 by FINRA.

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