The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently penalized the Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities and two of its top officials, for market access violations. Wedbush Securities was fined $2.44 million and agreed to retain an independent consultant. Jeffrey Bell, former VP, and Christina Fillhart, senior VP, agreed to pay more than $85,000 in penalties and interest, […]

JOANN JACKSON (CRD# 2246952) a 63 year-old investment advisor from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, pled guilty to wire fraud last week in federal court. Allegedly, Jackson misappropriated over $800,000 from her client's account. The alleged victim had placed all of her investment accounts with Jackson. Jackson has worked as a stockbroker since 1994, and had become […]

The Fort Lauderdale-based Soreide Law Group obtained the summary of information from FINRA's Website under "Disciplinary and Other Actions, November 2014." NSM Securities, Inc. (CRD #134357, West Palm Beach, Florida) and Niyukt Raghu Bhasin (CRD #2282048, Wellington, Florida) NSM Securities was expelled from FINRA membership and Bhasin the founder, owner, President and Chief Executive Officer […]

JODIE L. MILLER (CRD# 4772684) was suspended by FINRA for 18 months and a fined $53,225, included in this figure was a disgorgement in the amount of $38,225 plus interest. This was due to Miller's alleged "selling away" securities in Tri-Med Corporation. According to the reports, in 2012 Miller allegedly participated in the private sales […]

Thomas Neil Charbonneau (CRD #44868, Arden Hills, Minnesota) was barred by FINRA for allegedly selling nearly 1.7 million shares of a speculative penny stock from his own accounts which generated $400,000. According to FINRA, Charbonneau solicited the purchase of the speculative penny stock to his clients without disclosing that he was selling the stock from […]

Fort-Lauderdale-based Soreide Law Group obtained the following summation of information from FINRA’s website under “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, November, 2014.” James Clifford Eastman (CRD #1385303, Naples, Florida) was given a deferred fine of $20,000 and suspended by FINRA for nine months for allegedly participating in the sales of private securities without prior written notice […]

The SEC has filed an action against ERIC W. JOHNSON, 51, (CRD# 2142522) for allegedly misappropriating at least $1 million from his clients. The SEC claims that Johnson transferred small sums to his personal account over 100 times. Eric William Johnson has not been located. Johnson has been with RedRidge Securities, based in Chicago, since […]

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel recently awarded a former client of Commonwealth Financial Network of Waltham, Massachusetts, $580,000. According to the FINRA report, the client had claimed his Commonwealth advisor, who was not named in the filing, breached his fiduciary duty. The advisor allegedly recommended to his client to retire early and […]

In a recent Wall Street Journal investigation, they analyzed records of approximately 550,000 stockbrokers, and identified 16 hot spots in the United States where troubled brokers tend to concentrate. The areas identified were clustered in these seven states: New York, New Jersey. Florida, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and California. The article sites in particular, Delray Beach, […]