Former Legend Securities Broker Suspended for Unsuitable Excessive Trading

Michael Guilfoyle, a stockbroker previously registered with Legend Securities, Inc., submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he was suspended for 10 months and assessed a deferred fine of $10,000.00.  Without admitting or denying FINRA’s allegations, Michael Nicholas Guilfoyle, of Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings that he engaged in unsuitable excessive trading in customers’ accounts, resulting in cumulative losses to his customers of nearly $56,000.00. According to FINRA, Mr. Guilfoyle exercised control over the accounts of two customers, one of whom was a senior citizen, due to the customers’ limited investment experience.  Mr. Guilfoyle’s trading strategy generated excessive commissions or markups/markdowns.  For example, during the 18 month time period in which his 73 year old customer’s account was open, Mr. Guilfoyle executed 77 transactions;  90% were solicited.  As a result of the excessive trading, the customer suffered losses of $27,821.22, while generating sales charges of over $35,000.00.  The other customer, FINRA found, suffered losses of more than $28,000.00 and sales charges for Mr. Guilfoyle of $26,150.00.  The suspension is in effect from December 18, 2017 through October 17, 2018.

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Legend Securities Broker Named in FINRA Complaint for Allegations of Fraudulent and Excessive Trading

Hank M. Werner, a Northport, New York-based registered representative formerly employed with Legend Securities, Inc. and Liberty Partners Financial Services, LLC, was named a respondent in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) complaint alleging that he fraudulently and excessively traded the accounts of his customer, a 77 year old blind and physically disabled widow. According to the FINRA complaint, while working at Liberty Partners Financial Services and then later at Legend Securities, Mr. Werner serviced and exercised control over all of his customer’s accounts.  Due to his customer’s disabilities, she relied completely upon Mr. Werner for investment recommendations and information on account activity.  However, FINRA’s complaint alleges that Mr. Werner churned and excessively traded the elderly widow’s accounts, allegedly placing over 700 trades and generating approximately $243,430.20 in commissions and fees and approximately $183,734.33 in net losses for his customer.  Further, the complaint alleges that when Mr. Werner changed firms, he increased his markups and commissions on her trades to 3.75-4.25%, an increase of over 40%!

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Legend Securities Stockbroker Receives Complaint for Fraud

FINRA has filed a complaint against Richard Gomez of Jackson Heights, New York for allegedly defrauding investors of close to half a million dollars. Gomez, who was a registered representative with Legend Securities Inc. between June and December 2011, allegedly offered investors the opportunity to purchase membership interests in Praetorian Global Fund, Ltd. (Praetorian) and its affiliate companies. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Praetorian Global Fund was supposed to grant investors an opportunity to invest in a pre-initial public offering (IPO) with shares of Facebook, Groupon and Zynga. Gomez allegedly sold $394,000 worth of shares of the fraudulent company and made at least $22,000 in commissions. Gomez allegedly failed to conduct proper due diligence and missed multiple red flags regarding Praetorian. The “principal place of business” for Praetorian was a residential apartment in Boca Raton, Florida but the mailing address was that of “The UPS Store” in Boca Raton. In addition, Praetorian’s fund manager had a lengthy criminal record that included multiple convictions of grand theft, and other members affiliated with the company have been named defendants in multiple lawsuits alleging fraudulent business practices.

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