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So far Richard Frankowski has created 573 blog entries.

Financial Adviser Sentenced For Defrauding Disabled Woman

Jodene Beaver has spent the majority of her 56 years dealing with physical and mental impairments. She is able to live on her own with the help of her family who cares for her and work as a grocery-store greeter. Two months after her father died, Beaver placed her trust in Jason Wade Cox, a financial adviser. Cox immediately started thieving thousands of dollars from Beaver, transferring funds out of the original account and into Beaver's private checking account and subsequently spending much of it on gambling. Eventually, Cox drained Beaver's entire inheritance and urged her to sell her condo and move into a bedbug-infested apartment. Cox was sentenced to five years in prison, three years supervised release, and ordered to pay over $412,000 in restitution. He pleaded guilty in July to charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. He also told the judge that he had suffered childhood abuse that led to a gambling addiction, forcing him [...]

FINRA Fines Six IBDs For Failing To Discount Large REIT Sales

Voya Financial Advisors Inc., Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. and four other independent broker-dealers failed to give clients appropriate discounts on large sales of nontraded real estate investment trusts and business development companies. In turn, FINRA fined the six over $500,000 combined. The fines comes as part of FINRA's crackdown on firms not properly giving their customers particular discounts, called breakpoint discounts. Discounts are available on sales of particular nontraded REITs, usually when the sale is for more than $500,000. According to a number of prospectuses for nontraded REITs, the price of a REIT is normally ten dollars per share with a seventy cent commission to the broker, but for sales between $501,000 and $1 million, the price can drop to $9.90 per share with the commission falling to sixty cents. The six firms “failed to identify and apply volume discounts to certain customers' eligible purchases of non-traded REITs and BDCs, resulting in customers paying excessive sales charges,” according to the FINRA [...]

Fiat Chrysler Investigated For Alleged Securities Fraud

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. is being investigated for allegedly violating specific sections of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing materially misleading information to the investing public pertaining to the company's compliance with safety recalls. In July, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced an enforcement action and record $105 million fine imposed on Fiat Chrysler for the company's failure to adequately and timely address safety recalls affecting over eleven million cars. The enforcement action was subsequent to a public hearing at which NHTSA officials addressed problems with Fiat Chrysler's execution of twenty-three vehicle safety recalls covering over eleven million defective vehicles. The company admitted that it had violated the Safety Act in three areas: effective and timely recall remedies, notification to vehicle owners and dealers, and notifications to the NHTSA. Fiat Chrysler's stock began to fall after the news and closed on July 27 at $14.41 per share, down five percent. If you or someone you know has [...]

FINRA Fines Santander Securities LLC $6.4 Million For Supervisory Failures

FINRA mandated that Santander Securities LLC pay about $4.3 million in restitution to a number of clients who were solicited to buy Puerto Rican Municipal Bonds. Further, the firm will pay restitution of $121,000 and make offers of rescission to buy back the securities sold to particular customers impacted by the firm's failure to supervise employee trading. FINRA additionally fined the firm $2 million for supervisory failures pertaining to sales of the bonds and Puerto Rican closed-end funds and for failing to supervise employee trading in its Puerto Rican branch office. Brad Bennett, FINRA's Executive Vice President and Chief of Enforcement, said, "This is a strong reminder to firms that they must focus on customers' exposure to market risks and suitability, particularly in those markets like Puerto Rico that present unique risks and challenges." FINRA's investigation discovered that from December 2012 to October 2013, Santander did not ensure that its proprietary product risk-classification tool accurately reflected market risks on investing [...]