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, […]

There was a recent report in the Wall Street Journal that former Nebraska football players, Steve Octavien and Marlon Lucky, accepted gifts from financial advisor, MARY R. WONG (CRD# 1745747), while they were at Nebraska. This was in an article about financial advisors who take advantage of athletes. Steve Octavien and brothers Daniel and Josh […]

ROBERT J. HEAD (CRD# 240935) has been permanently barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities to the public. FINRA reports that allegedly from August 2008 until October 2013, Head who was managing a Stifel Nicolaus trust account for a client, exercised […]

On November 10th., 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced penalties against 13 brokerage firms for failing to protect their clients in the sales of high-risk government bonds issued by Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico currently has over $73 billion in public debt which has accumulated over several decades. Now in its eighth year of […]

Soreide Law Group, obtained the following summary of information from FINRA’s website under “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, October, 2014.” Craig Shiver Smith (CRD #3103610, Birmingham, Alabama) was barred by FINRA for alleged unauthorized trades in a customer’s account, and exercised time and price discretion without written authority from the client. FINRA's findings stated that […]

Vision Financial Markets LLC, a futures commission merchant member, and Ace Investment Strategists LLC, a commodity trading advisor member were barred by the National Futures Association (NFA). Ace Investment's principal, Yu-Dee Chang, and Chesapeake Investment Services, Inc., an introducing broker of which Chang is a principal, were also barred from membership by the NFA. In […]

On November 3, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sanctioned 13 firms. According to the SEC, these firms violated the rule that is primarily designed to protect retail investors in the municipal securities market. A "minimum denomination" sets the smallest amount of the bonds that a broker/dealer is permitted to sell to a retail […]

Ralph Oelbermann (CRD# 1962900) an investment advisor and broker from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was fined $110,000 by state regulators and barred by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) from working in Florida's financial industry. Oelbermann was previously registered at LPL Financial and J.W. Cole Financial, both of Palm Beach Gardens. It was reported […]