Fraud

It is a common misconception that securities fraud is strictly handled in criminal courts. There are also civil remedies for investors who have been defrauded out of their money, or whose brokers or advisors have acted negligently. Seeking those remedies is exactly what The Frankowski Firm does. We want to speak to investors directly here – both the inexperienced and the well-versed – about the most common types of investment fraud, so that you have a better idea about when to seek help from an attorney. What is investment fraud? Sometimes referred to as “stock fraud” or “securities fraud,” investment fraud is a deceptive practice whereby your advisor or broker misrepresents critical information about certain securities or products in order to induce investors to make a purchase (in the most general terms). When you hear stories about insider trading, Ponzi schemes or boiler rooms, you are really hearing about acts of securities fraud. By and large, investment fraud leads to [...]

New Administrations bring new rules – or, in this case, they do away with the old ones. One of the regulations on the chopping block is the so-called “fiduciary rule” issued last year by the Labor Department, which said that both financial advisors and brokers who worked on 401(k) and other retirement accounts had to act in the best interests of their clients. It is set to go into effect this April. However, as the New York Times reports, “the rule is likely to disappear, given that Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs executive who is now the director of the National Economic Council, told The Wall Street Journal that he wanted it gone.” While Registered Investment Advisors will still have fiduciary duty, brokers and brokerage firms will only be held to the suitability standard – which, in the Times’ opinion, “leaves lot of room for shenanigans.” We have discussed the difference in these standards, because the terminology can be [...]