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FINRA Bars Broker For Money Laundering And Deception

FINRA has barred James Van Doren from the securities industry for unethical conduct. Van Doren was allegedly involved in money laundering and operating a scheme to deceive a friend's creditors and facilitate criminal conduct, including conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud. FINRA found that Van Doren helped a childhood friend and business associate avoid legal obligations by deceiving his creditors. Van Doren had invested in a number of real estate developments with his friend's company in an outside business activity. The company, however, was not able to meet its obligations, and creditors tried to claim the friend's assets. On three different occasions, Van Doren accepted a total of $244,000 from the friend, including $30,000 in a briefcase full of cash, with the goal of hiding the assets from the creditors. He returned the majority of the money to his friend and kept some of it for himself to offset some of his own financial losses. FINRA further found that Van [...]

By |April 25th, 2016|FINRA, Fraud, Press Releases & News|
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Broker Accused Of Pump-And-Dump Scheme

Guy Gentile of Putnam Valley, New York allegedly ran a $17 million pump-and-dump stock scheme. Gentile faces federal counts of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He was indicted late last month, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. The SEC filed a civil suit against Gentile late last month, as well. Gentile's alleged scam actually involved two different schemes from April 2007 to June 2008, according to the SEC. Gentile is no longer a registered representative but was most recently registered with Stock USA Execution Services, Inc. in Carmel, New York. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Gentile and two Canadian stock promoters, Itamar Cohen and Michael Taxon, artificially inflated the stock price of two publicly traded companies, Raven Gold Corporation and Kentucky USA Energy Inc. Gentile, Cohen, and Taxon, gained control over a large portion of Raven Gold's and Kentucky USA Energy's free trading shares, according to the SEC. The three allegedly then used manipulative trading [...]

By |April 20th, 2016|Fraud, Press Releases & News, SEC|
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Frankowski Firm Investigating Former Broker Jerry McCutchen

The Frankowski Firm is investigating ex-broker Jerry McCutchen. If you purchased real estate investment trusts ("REITs") from him and lost money, you may have grounds to bring a securities claim. According to FINRA's BrokerCheck, McCutchen has been accused of making unsuitable investment recommendations. He has also been the subject of numerous broker fraud claims alleging negligence, misrepresentations, and other claims. In one particular case, McCutchen, while registered with Berthel Fisher & Company Financial Services, Inc. was alleged to have put a couple's retirement funds in speculative, illiquid, alternative investments that he misrepresented as safe investments in accordance with the couple's goals to make investments in safe products. In actuality Tier REIT, ICON Leasing Fund Twelve LLC, and others did not have proper diversity or allocation and were not suitable for these investors. One thing these investments have in common is that they come with high commissions for the broker and low probability of success for the client.  The costs [...]

By |April 14th, 2016|Press Releases & News, Broker Check, FINRA|
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Investors File Churning Complaints Against John Prinzivalli

According to FINRA's BrokerCheck, broker John Prinzivalli has been the subject of two churning complaints since 2010. Other complaints against Prinzivalli have alleged a number of securities law violations including that the broker made unsuitable investments and breached his fiduciary duty. One complaint filed in October 2014 alleges $130,000 in damages due to unsuitable recommendations, high pressure sales tactics, and churning.  The case is currently pending.  In a separate complaint filed in November 2010, a customer alleged the broker churned his accounts, made unsuitable investments, and breached his fiduciary duty, claiming $250,000 in damages.  This case was settled. Excessive trading, also called churning, occurs when a broker trades in and out of securities, even the same stock on occasion, numerous times over a short period. Many times the account will completely turnover each month with completely new securities. Brokers have no reasonable basis for engaging in this kind of trading other than to profit for themselves through the generation [...]

By |April 12th, 2016|Broker Check, FINRA, Fraud, Press Releases & News|
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