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Oppenheimer & Co. Fined By FINRA

FINRA fined Oppenheimer & Co. $3.4 Million for failures in reporting internal discipline, giving information in arbitration cases, and offering sales discounts to customers. Between 2008 and 2016, the firm was on average four years late making 365 filings with FINRA, pertaining to disciplinary actions it took against its own brokers and arbitration and litigation settlements. The regulator also said that from 2010 to 2013, Oppenheimer did not provide documents to seven claimants in an arbitration case against ex-registered representative Mark Hotton. Oppenheimer has already paid $6 million to settle the claims alleged in that case. Additionally, FINRA said the firm overcharged 825 customers $1,010,327 between 2009 and 2015 for mutual funds shares because it did not apply the appropriate fee waiver. FINRA issued a $1.575 million fine and forced Oppenheimer to pay $703,122 to the arbitration claimants and $1,142,619 to its mutual fund customers. “It's important for firms to [...]

By |November 18th, 2016|FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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Edward Jones Hit With Second Excessive Fee Suit

Edward Jones has been hit with a second excessive fee and self-dealing suit regarding its 401(k) plan. This is the second suit of this nature this year against the brokerage firm and just one of many that have been filed against other defendants this year. The suit alleges that the firm and a number of employees overseeing the retirement plan breached their fiduciary duties by selecting high-cost mutual funds when identical, lower-cost ones were available, choosing "an unreasonable number" of high-risk investment options, and including a "poorly performing" money market fund in place of a stable value fund. The excessive fee suit also claims Edward Jones entered into arrangements with such “product partners” whereby fund companies paid for access to the “captive market” of 401(k) participants by giving revenue-sharing fees to Edward Jones in return for “shelf space” on the retail side of the brokerage business. These revenue-sharing agreements, as the suit states, were "contingent upon" Edward Jones offering the [...]

By |November 16th, 2016|Press Releases & News|
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Mark Tauzin Suspended For Unsuitable Trading

FINRA suspended former LPL Financial broker Mark Tauzin for engaging in unsuitable short-term trading of unit investment trusts as well as maintaining blank, signed forms in customer files. He was suspended for eight months from any FINRA registered broker-dealer, fined $20,000 and required to pay $205,000 plus interest to 14 sets of clients. That sum represents the commissions he generated from November 2012 to November 2014 by buying and selling UITs, according to the settlement. Over the two year period, while he was registered with LPL, Tauzin recommended the purchase of UITs, which typically carry significant upfront charges, and the subsequent sales of those products within a year of purchase, according to FINRA. The UITs Tauzin recommended had maturity dates of 24 months or longer and carried initial sales charges ranging from 2.5% to 3.95%. “Within the accounts of these 14 households, Tauzin effected 215 UIT transactions that were sold within a 12-month time period,” according to FINRA. [...]

By |October 21st, 2016|Broker Check, FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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Paul Lebel Barred By SEC For Churning

Paul Lebel, a broker formerly with LPL Financial from 2008 to 2014, was barred by the SEC for churning and excessively trading mutual funds in customer accounts and generating excess fees. According to the SEC administrative proceeding, Lebel "defrauded four customers by churning several of their accounts. In particular, Lebel exercised de facto control over these customers' accounts and excessively traded mutual fund shares which carry large front-end load fees.” According to the commission, Paul Lebel bought and sold mutual fund A shares, which are meant to be long-term, buy-and-hold investments, generating $50,000 in commissions. Lebel will pay $56,500 as part of the settlement. “Lebel's excessive trading was inconsistent with the customers' investment objectives, and willfully disregarded the customers' interest,” according to the SEC. “From August 2008 through August 2014, Lebel executed numerous mutual fund A share trades that, in light of Lebel's customers investment objectives, were fraudulent, made to the detriment of Lebel's customers, and [...]

By |October 19th, 2016|Press Releases & News, SEC|
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