FINRA Complaint Filed Against Former Huntington Investment Company Stockbroker William Joseph Kielczewski

William Joseph Kielczewski was named a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging that he falsely attested to his firm compliance questionnaires, participated in private securities transactions and caused his firm to file five misleading form U4’s all in violation of NASD Rule 3040, Article V, Section 2 of FINRA’s By-Laws and FINRA Rules 3280, 2010 and 1122. In January 2014, William Joseph Kielczewski joined Huntington Investment Company (Huntington) as a general securities representative until his involuntary termination on April 26, 2017. According to the FINRA findings, Kielczewski was involved in an outside business activity, a hedge fund called Mariemont, promoting it to potential investors and participated in multiple private transactions through which four Firm customers invested over $10 million. The findings also stated that Kielczewski allegedly caused his member firm to submit five false U4 forms stating he was a silent minority partner, had a passive position with the company and described himself as a passive investor in which he was not. William Joseph Kielczewski is no longer registered or associated with a FINRA member and remains subject to FINRA’s jurisdiction.

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Huntington Investment Company Broker Suspended for Unsuitable UIT Recommendations

Richard Graham, a former registered representative with Huntington Investment Company of Lafayette, Indiana, submitted a letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) in which he was suspended and assessed a deferred fine of $10,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for Unit Investment Trust (UIT) recommendations which were unsuitable for his customers given their investment objectives. According to FINRA, Richard Dale Graham, of Lebanon, Indiana, recommended that his customer, a 98-year old woman, invest in three UITs which made up approximately 42% of her net worth.  Given the woman’s moderately conservative investment goals and age, the recommendations were found by FINRA to be unsuitable, and the UITs lost $29,493 in value. 

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Huntington Investment Company Broker Named in FINRA Complaint Alleging Unsuitable UIT Recommendations

David Michael Miller, a former registered representative with Huntington Investment Company (Huntington) was named a respondent in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) complaint alleging unsuitable Unit Investment Trust (UIT) recommendations. The complaint alleges that Mr. Miller, of Columbus, Ohio, had no reasonable basis to recommend UIT purchases which totaled approximately $5.4 million in 129 customer accounts. Further, the complaint alleges that Mr. Miller failed to exercise the necessary due diligence with respect to the UIT recommendations. Specifically, the complaint states that Mr. Miller allegedly did not read the prospectuses, did not know that the underlying closed-end funds were leveraged, and did not know that certain of the closed-end funds invested in junk bonds and that the UIT prospectuses advised that investing in such bonds should be viewed as speculative and subject to numerous risks, including higher interest rates, economic recession, possible downgrades, and defaults of interest and/or principal. The complaint further alleges that Mr. Miller negligently misrepresented and omitted material facts to customers in connection with their UIT purchases totaling $964,000. Also, Mr. Miller allegedly misrepresented to this particular customer that the UIT investment was “safe,” and that if the customer hold the investment until termination of the trust, he would receive his entire principal investment plus the 5% interest payment received during the term of the trust.

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