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UBS Loses Arbitration, Forced To Pay $200k

UBS lost an arbitration case this week pertaining to the offer and sale of a number of Puerto Rico Fixed Income and Bond funds. The Claimant in the arbitration asserted causes of action for violation of the Puerto Rico Uniform Securities Act, securities fraud, constructive fraud, breach of contract, negligence, negligent supervision, failure to supervise, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation, omission of facts, manipulation, unsuitability, common law fraud, constructive fraud, and respondeat superior. The Claimant's allegations related to the her purchase of shares of Puerto Rico Fixed Income Funds I, II, and III and Puerto Rico Investors Bond Fund. In her statement of claim, the Claimant requested rescission of the closed end funds sold to her and $357,000 to $625,000 in compensatory damages, as well as interest, costs, attorneys' fees, and punitive damages. In her pre-hearing brief, the Claimant requested compensatory damages between $339,297 and $702,003. UBS requested dismissal of the claims and expungement of the action. After considering the [...]

By |May 14th, 2015|Press Releases & News|
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LPL Financial Fined $11.7M For ‘Widespread Supervisory Failures’

FINRA ordered LPL Financial to pay $11.7 million in fines and restitution for what it called "widespread supervisory failures" pertaining to sales of complex products. According to the regulator authority, from 2007 to April 2015, LPL failed to adequately supervise sales of particular investments, such as exchange-traded funds, variable annuities, and nontraded real estate investment trusts. Additionally, LPL did not properly deliver over fourteen million trade confirmations to customers. LPL had no system set up to watch the amount of time customers held securities in their accounts or to enforce limits on concentrations of complex products in customer accounts. The systems that LPL did have set up to watch trading activity in customer accounts were ravaged by "multiple deficiencies." For example, LPL did not create proper anti-money laundering alerts and failed to deliver trade confirmations in 67,000 customer accounts. FINRA also penalized LPL for not supervising advertising and other communications, such as brokers' use of consolidated reports. The penalty includes [...]

By |May 13th, 2015|Press Releases & News|
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FINRA Investigating National Securities Broker

FINRA has filed a complaint against broker Vito Balsamo alleging that Balsamo was "selling away" ownership interests in a limited liability company named V.W. Industries, LLC without getting prior written approval from his member firm. Selling away occurs when an investment professional sells or offers securities not held or offered by the brokerage firm with which he is affiliated. FINRA also accuses Balsamo of failing to provide testimony asked for by FINRA staff. According to FINRA's BrokerCheck records, customers have complained about Balsamo on at least four occasions; he has also been involved in two criminal matters, one regulatory action, and one judgment and lien throughout his career. Balsamo's customers have accused Balsamo of a number of securities law violations, including selling unsuitable investments, unauthorized trading, breaching his fiduciary duty, making misrepresentations and false statements, and churning. By industry standards, Balsamo has received a substantial number of complaints. Only roughly twelve percent of financial advisors have any type of disclosure [...]

By |May 12th, 2015|Broker Check, FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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Alabama Securities Fraudster’s Assets Intercepted

The Alabama Securities Commission intercepted $16,000 worth of redeemed stock owned by Harry H. "Woody" Duncan from Huntsville, Alabama and successfully rerouted the cash to assist in the payment of restitution to victims of an illegal securities scheme operated by Duncan in 2011. In August 2012, Madison County, Alabama Circuit Court Judge James P. Smith sentenced Duncan to twenty years' imprisonment for violating the Alabama Securities Act. Duncan is serving the first five years of his sentence, but the latter fifteen years will be suspended on the condition that he make complete restitution to all victims and file sworn quarterly financial reports accounting for the sources of funds used to make the payments. An investigation by the Commission discovered that, despite the fact that Duncan is in the custody of the Alabama Corrections Department, he received stock dividends, which the Court considers personal assets/income, that should be allocated to pay restitution to his victims. In January 2015, the Commission's legal [...]

By |May 11th, 2015|Press Releases & News|
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