Soreide Law Group, Securities Arbitration Law Firm (888) 760-6552, recently obtained this information from the FINRA website under “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, March, 2013.”
Paul Grover Gomez (CRD #702551, Registered Representative, El Toro, California)
was fined $75,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for three months. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Gomez consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of
findings that his options recommendations to customers were unsuitable based on their investment objectives, financial situations and needs, including being retired and on fixed incomes; and their lack of financial knowledge and experience, which made them unable to evaluate the risks of the recommended transactions.FINRA's findings stated that Gomez did not have reasonable grounds for believing that the recommendations to the customers were suitable in light of their financial situations and needs, and did not have a reasonable basis for believing that the customers had the knowledge and experience in financial matters to be reasonably expected to be capable of evaluating the risks of the options transactions that Gomez recommended and his options trading strategy.
FINRA's findings stated that Gomez exercised discretion in trading options in a customer’s account and exercised time discretion in executing orders on behalf of other customers without the customers providing Gomez with prior written discretionary authority over their accounts. None of their accounts had been accepted by his member firm as discretionary accounts.
Also, FINRA's findings included that Gomez utilized an uncovered index option combination writing (or selling) strategy in customer accounts. The strategy involved selling put and call options on the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 100 stock index.
The suspension is in effect from January 22, 2013, through April 21, 2013. (FINRA Case #2009019302101)
It is listed on FINRA's BrokerCheck that Paul Grover Gomez was previously registered with FINRA at the following brokerage firms:
MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED
CRD# 7691
LAGUNA HILLS, CA
03/1990 - 08/2009
DEAN WITTER REYNOLDS INC.
CRD# 7556
PURCHASE, NY
12/1979 - 04/1990
This ends the information from FINRA's website.
If you have suffered financial losses due to your broker/dealer’s recommendations, call Soreide Law Group for a free consultation with an attorney: 888-760-6552.
