Soreide Law Group has filed a FINRA arbitration on behalf of our clients (Claimants) against:
ALLIANCE GLOBAL PARTNERS (Respondents).
The Claimants are a married couple residing in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit states the Claimants are bringing this lawsuit to recover losses due to the alleged actions of the Respondent and their registered representative, MATT WARD. Ward is not named in this lawsuit. MATT WARD has been registered both as a broker and as an investment advisor with ALLIANCE GLOBAL PARTNERS of Santa Monica, California, since April of 2012.
The lawsuit alleges that MATT WARD, the Claimants’ Financial Advisor, engaged in an excessive trading strategy and generated excessive commissions. The lawsuit alleges that Ward also underperformed a buy and hold strategy. Allegedly the Respondent made speculative investments in the Claimants’ portfolio.
The lawsuit alleges that the Respondent’s actions in this case constitute breach of contract, failure to supervise, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and violations of FINRA rules including Regulation Best Interest. FINRA has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to FINRA Code of Arbitration Procedure Rule 12200. As a result, Claimants have allegedly suffered damages of $499,999.00.
According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, available to the public on FINRA’s website, MATT WARD has 35 years of experience in the securities industry and has been listed with 7 firms. Ward has 2 disclosures on his FINRA CRD report. There is a “Regulatory” disclosure dated 2/7/2024 fining Ward $5,000.00 and suspending him for 15 days. The allegations were, “Without admitting or denying the findings, Ward consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he exercised discretion in customer accounts without prior written authorization to do so from any of the customers and without his member firm having accepted any of the accounts as discretionary. The findings stated that Ward effected trades in the customer accounts without first speaking to the customers prior to execution on the date of the transactions. Ward's customers knew that he was exercising discretion in their accounts.”
The other disclosure listed on MATT WARD’s FINRA CRD report is a “Customer Dispute” dated 6/9/2016, which settled for $25,000.00. The allegations were, “Customer alleges unsuitable trading, unauthorized trading and churning, which allegedly occurred between January 2010 and June 2014.” Ward denies the allegations.
To discuss this article or any other securities issues, contact Soreide Law Group and speak to an experienced securities lawyer at no cost: 888-760-6552.
Soreide Law Group represents our clients nationwide before FINRA on a contingency fee basis.
