John Dennis Lowry, the owner of Spartan Capital Securities, LLC of New York, New York, has been named as a party in a pending FINRA Disciplinary Proceeding, according to his FINRA BrokerCheck Report. Mr. Lowry’s report also reveals eleven prior customer complaints against Mr. Lowry and his firm.

FINRA Disciplinary Proceeding Against John Dennis Lowry

On October 19, 2021, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) filed a disciplinary complaint which named John Dennis Lowry and Spartan Capital Securities, LLC as two of the respondents.

According to the FINRA allegations, Spartan violated multiple FINRA rules in failing to disclose, or timely disclose, hundreds of reportable events involving its representatives, including customer complaints, customer arbitration claims, bankruptcies, and unsatisfied liens and judgments. The complaint notes that Lowry became Spartan’s CEO in 2015 and, through a holding company, is the sole owner of the company.

FINRA found that Spartan failed to timely file 115 out of 152 required amendments to its regulatory forms, resulting in non-disclosure or late disclosure of 162 customer arbitration filings and resolutions on the forms of its registered representatives. The late filings were not just a little late: the average late filing was 216 days late, with one delinquency reaching 1,121 days. Making matters worse, FINRA found that all but one of Spartan’s 60 failures to file an amendment involved a failure to amend the regulatory filings of an executive officer or branch manager to disclose a customer arbitration against that individual.

John Dennis Lowry’s Failure to Amend His Regulatory Filings

Spartan paid customers a total of $1,679,352 via settlement or award to resolve 14 arbitrations against Lowry, according to FINRA. Lowry was required to amend his Form U4 to disclose resolution of 12 of those arbitration, yet failed to file or timely file amendments to disclose any of the 12. Ten of the twelve arbitration were settled for $15,000 or more, triggering a separate disclosure obligation which Lowry failed to meet.

FINRA found that Spartan and Lowry failed to update their disclosure forms despite multiple warnings from FINRA that they were required to do so.

Customer Complaints Against John Dennis Lowry

John Dennis Lowry’s FINRA BrokerCheck report reveals eleven customer complaints against him, dating back to 2009, with six having been filed against him just within the past four years. The complaints allege millions of dollars in damages caused by Lowry’s misconduct including allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, churning, unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentation, unauthorized trading, and failure to supervise.

FINRA arbitrators awarded customers a total of $241,842.00 in two FINRA arbitrations against Lowry and Spartan. Two additional claims were settled for $335,000.00. Three complaints against Mr. Lowry, including the FINRA regulatory action, are still pending.