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J. P. Morgan Securities, LLC (“J. P. Morgan”) employed San Francisco Financial Advisor Edward Turley (“Mr. Turley”) and it is being sued for his alleged misconduct involving a highly speculative trading investment strategy in highly leveraged accounts. We represent a family in the Midwest who built a successful manufacturing business and entrusted their savings to J. P. Morgan and its financial advisor and lost millions of dollars. We have filed a FINRA arbitration proceeding on behalf of our clients against the brokerage firm and summarized the allegations below.

Mr. Turley and one of our clients were members of the Citation Jet Pilot Owners Association (“CJP”).  Our clients were solicited to open accounts with J. P. Morgan along with other CJP members. This is the fourth case filed against J. P. Morgan for Mr. Turley’s alleged misrepresentations and misleading statements relating to recommended investments and an investment strategy that were not only allegedly unsuitable but allegedly mismanaged by the  J.P. Morgan investment adviser and stockbroker in clients’ accounts. Continue Reading

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Ronald Walter Hannes of Spokane, Washington submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he was barred for allegedly failing to produce documents and information requested by FINRA in violation of FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010.

From September 1986 to December 2019, Ronald Walter Hannes was registered as an Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative (IR) with Woodbury Financial Services (Woodbury). According to the FINRA findings, Ronald Walter Hannes allegedly refused to provide documents and information to FINRA during their investigation regarding the allegations that he converted customer funds. The FINRA findings stated that Woodbury terminated Hannes after receiving notice from a client that funds were paid to Hannes for the purchase of life insurance that were not sent to the company. Without admitting or denying FINRA’s findings, Ronald Walter Hannes consented to the sanctions and has been barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Continue Reading

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Peter Douglas Monson of Blaine, Minnesota submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he allegedly exercised discretion and engaged in excessive and unsuitable trading in violation of NASD Conduct Rule 2510(b) and FINRA Rules 2111 and 2010.

In February 2014, Peter Douglas Monson joined Van Clemens & Co. as a General Securities Representative and General Securities Principal. According to the FINRA findings, Monson actively traded risky microcap stocks in a customer’s account without required authorization. The FINRA findings found that when Monson took control over the customer’s account, it had declined by 60% from investment losses, commissions charged for trades, and also from more than $138,000 in withdrawals that the customer used to help finance a family business. After the customer informed Monson of her cancer diagnosis he continued his frequent trading of microcap securities and did not curtail the amount of trading in her account or seek to reduce her risk exposure. In addition, FINRA stated that Monson allegedly had little contact with the customer and exercised discretion to decide what to trade, when to trade it, and what prices on more than 100 occasions during the same period. Continue Reading

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Jody Ethan Thompson of Seaford, New York submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he allegedly exercised discretionary trading and made unsuitable recommendations in violation of NASD Rule 2510 and FINRA Rules 2111 and 2010.

From July 2015 to February 2019, Jody Ethan Thompson was registered with Alexander Capital as a General Securities Representative. According to the FINRA findings, Thompson made unsuitable recommendations to three different customers without understanding the potential risks and rewards of the various offerings. The findings stated that Thompson did not understand the restrictions on transfer and withdrawal of the investments, how the interest payments would be made to investors or the fee structure of the investments because he did not perform reasonable diligence. The FINRA findings also stated that Thompson allegedly exercised discretion by placing 40 trades in a customer’s account without written authorization from the customer or from Alexander Capital. Continue Reading

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Jeffrey Scott Nimmow of Merrimac, Wisconsin submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he was barred for allegedly engaging in unapproved private transactions and for not possessing the proper registration in violation of NASD Rule 1031 and FINRA Rules 3280 and 2010.

From August 2015 to March 2018, Jeffrey Scott Nimmow was registered as an Investment Company Products/Variable Contracts Representative with Forest Securities Inc. (FSI). According to the FINRA findings, he engaged in the sale of promissory notes of more than $3 million to 18 different investors without the proper registration. The findings stated that Nimmow submitted a request to FSI to add sales of promissory notes to his outside business activities but failed to provide notice of each proposed transaction. In addition, FINRA stated that Nimmow sold $3,365,000 in the promissory notes and received approximately $177,937 in commissions without being qualified or registered to offer or sell promissory notes to his customers. Without admitting or denying FINRA’s findings, Nimmow consented to the sanctions and has been barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Continue Reading

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David Francis Dalton of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he was fined and suspended for allegedly exercising discretion and causing his firm to create and maintain inaccurate books and records in violation of NASD Rules 2510(b) and 3110 and FINRA Rules 4511 and 2010.

In February 2002, David Francis Dalton joined Moors & Cabot as a General Securities Representative. According to the FINRA findings, Dalton exercised discretion 221 times in his firm’s customer accounts without first obtaining written approval. The findings stated that when Dalton transmitted the order information for those trades, he allegedly failed to disclose that he used his discretion, causing the firm to create and maintain inaccurate order memoranda. In addition to the FINRA findings, Dalton allegedly made false statements regarding his exercise of discretion for the transactions on three of his annual compliance questionnaires. Continue Reading

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Western International Securities in Pasadena, California submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which the firm was censured for allegedly engaging in Multiclass Mutual Fund Abuse and failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system and written supervisory procedures reasonably designed to ensure that eligible customers who purchased mutual fund shares received the benefit of applicable sales charge waivers. As a result, Western International Securities violated NASD Conduct Rule 3010, FINRA Rule 3110, and FINRA Rule 2010.

Since November 1995, Western International Securities (Western) has been a member firm of FINRA and holds 177 branch offices. According to the FINRA findings, Western had certain customers who were eligible for waiver of the initial sales charge associated with Class A shares.  Instead, Western sold them Class A shares with a front-end sales charge or Class B or C shares with back-end sales charges and higher ongoing fees and expenses. The FINRA findings stated that 40 of Western’s customers purchased mutual fund shares for which the waiver was not applied and were overcharged by approximately $305,000. In addition to the FINRA findings, Western allegedly failed to notify, train, and assist its financial advisors regarding the mutual fund sales charge waivers. Continue Reading

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How Do You Recover Your Investment Losses From Those Credit-line Margin Calls?

If you are reading this Blog, UBS Financial Services, Inc. Toledo, Ohio Touchstone Wealth Partners may have recommended that you take out a variable or fixed line of credit instead of selling securities and withdrawing funds from your account in order to stay invested in what was supposed to be a safe well-balanced investment portfolio.  The next thing you may have heard in March this year was you needed to deposit cash by 1 pm or your securities were going to be sold at rock-bottom prices. Or maybe you didn’t even receive a margin call and securities were just sold in your account. You might have thought the problem was the composition of your portfolio but the problem was very probably the leverage created by the credit-lines. Without the leverage there might not have been any margin calls and you would have been able to ride out the COVID 19 storm. You are not alone because that is just what other investors have told us about the pitch made to them and their recent experience.

In fact, we represent one such investor who has filed an arbitration claim against UBS Financial Services, Inc. for not only Touchstone Wealth Partner’s alleged unsuitable recommendations but for their alleged misrepresentations, misleading statements and mismanagement of her accounts. Please go to our website and read about our client’s allegations in our article titled “UBS Financial Services, Inc. Sued For Florida And Ohio Financial Advisor’s Alleged Misconduct Involving A Credit-Line Investment Strategy.” Continue Reading

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How Do You Recover Your Investment Losses From Those Credit-line Margin Calls?

If you are reading this Blog, UBS Financial Services, Inc. Bonita Springs, Florida Touchstone Wealth Partners may have recommended that you take out a variable or fixed line of credit instead of selling securities and withdrawing funds from your account in order to stay invested in what was supposed to be a safe well-balanced investment portfolio.  The next thing you may have heard in March this year was you needed to deposit cash by 1 pm or your securities were going to be sold at rock-bottom prices. Or maybe you didn’t even receive a margin call and securities were just sold in your account. You might have thought the problem was the composition of your portfolio but the problem was very probably the leverage created by the credit-lines. Without the leverage there might not have been any margin calls and you would have been able to ride out the COVID 19 storm. You are not alone because that is just what other investors have told us about the pitch made to them and their recent experience.

In fact, we represent one such investor who has filed an arbitration claim against UBS Financial Services, Inc. for not only Touchstone Wealth Partner’s alleged unsuitable recommendations but for their alleged misrepresentations, misleading statements and mismanagement of her accounts. Please go to our website and read about our client’s allegations in our article titled “UBS Financial Services, Inc. Sued For Florida And Ohio Financial Advisor’s Alleged Misconduct Involving A Credit-Line Investment Strategy.” Continue Reading

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Thomas S. Martin of Glorieta, New Mexico submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he was fined and suspended for allegedly engaging in unauthorized transaction in violation of NASD Rule 2510 and FINRA Rule 2010.

In 2002, Thomas S. Martin joined Edward Jones as a General Securities Representative and General Securities Principle. According to the FINRA findings, Mr. Martin exercised discretion in four accounts held by four separate customers. The FINRA findings stated that although the customers knew Mr. Martin placed 19 discretionary trades in the accounts and the trades did not result in any losses, he did not have written authorization to do so. In addition to the findings, Mr. Martin allegedly failed to request or obtained approval from Edward Jones and had previously received written reprimands from the firm for exercising discretion without written authority. Continue Reading

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