In an effort to protect investors over the sale of private placements, the new Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Rule 5123, was effective on December 3, 2012. Under the new FINRA Rule 5123, FINRA member firms that sell an issuer’s securities in a private placement will be required, subject to certain exemptions (which include private […]

Securities Lawyer, Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, is currently investigating Gramercy Securities, Inc. This brokerage has been alleged to have placed unsophisticated investors' money into unsuitable investments. There have been claims, for example, of a recent widow losing her entire net worth by investing in risky private placements. Some of these risky private placements […]

Jason T. Knapp, Corinth, New York, was arrested in connection with a nationwide Ponzi scheme, which allegedly involves hundreds of thousands of dollars. Knapp was a registered representative of Dawson James Securities of Boca Raton, FL, and had raised investment capital with a company call SteepleChase Group, making claims that returns on investments would be […]

Securities Attorney, Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group was recently quoted in an article from the Reno Gazette-Journal, written by Jaclyn O’Malley regarding former broker Gary Harrison Lane. The quote reads as follows: "Florida securities attorney Lars Soreide said Tuesday he has represented a few clients who have recently settled with broker firms connected to […]

As a general rule, investment performance for the last ten years has generally been mediocre. This is true not only for most individual investors, but also for many institutional investors and insurance companies. From early 2000 through 2007, the insurance industry sold a significant amount of variable annuity contracts that included a guaranteed minimum income […]

The following information is from FINRA’s website under “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, December, 2012.” Shari Robin Frimer (CRD #2503895, Registered Representative, Eastport, New York) and Thomas Joseph Heaphy Jr. (CRD #2540325, Registered Representative, Boynton Beach, Florida) submitted an Offer of Settlement in which Frimer was fined $32,407.50, which includes disgorgement of financial benefits of […]

Recently, Morgan Keegan entered into a settlement with FINRA for conduct surrounding non traditional etfs sold to retail customers. The following is information from FINRA's website. Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. (CRD #4161, Memphis, Tennessee) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $365,000. The firm consented […]

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has eased up on a controversial interpretation of its new suitability rule in a move that is bound to make the industry happy writes Dan Jamieson in a recent artilce in InvestmentNews.com. The new guidance issued December 10th., 2012, FINRA backtracked from an earlier interpretation of the rule, which […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it obtained an emergency court order to halt an alleged Ponzi-like scheme operated by Small Business Capital Corp. and its principal Mark Feathers, who raised $42 million by selling securities issued by Investors Prime Fund LLC and SBC Portfolio Fund LLC - two mortgage investment funds they […]