James Ortega Suspended by FINRA

The Pompano Beach, Florida-based, Soreide Law Group, has obtained the following information from FINRA’s website under, “Disciplinary and FINRA Actions, December 2020,” regarding the former Allstate Financial Services of Pompano Beach, Florida, broker
James Ortega (CRD #6676466, Pompano Beach, Florida).
Ortega was assessed a deferred fine of $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in all capacities for 30 business days through an Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) issued by FINRA.
Without admitting or denying FINRA’s findings, James Ortega consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he allegedly engaged in an outside business activities, also known as an OBA, that exceeded the scope of the OBA for which he had received prior approval from his member firm.
FINRA’s findings stated that the firm approved a corporation James Ortega began prior to his association to the firm as restricted with conditions, including that he could not market the activity to existing firm clients or use the same office space to conduct his OBA and firm brokerage business. The firm’s approval also required that any changes to the information submitted about the OBA would require additional approval. James Ortega acknowledged the approval and restrictions, according to FINRA.
FINRA states that despite Ortega’s statement that his proposed business was not offering services to other firm agents, and would simply forward leads, James Ortega allegedly provided telemarketing services through the corporation to individuals at his firm’s insurance agencies. According to FINRA’s report, Ortega allegedly sent invoices to these individuals for amounts between $384 and $770. Ortega allegedly offered telemarketing services through the corporation to another firm insurance agent.
According to FINRA, James Ortega exceeded the scope of his approved OBA, which had not included offering telemarketing services to firm agents, and he obtained compensation of approximately $1,660 for the services he allegedly offered.
The suspension was in effect from October 5, 2020, through November 13, 2020. (FINRA Case #2019061168602)
According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, available to the public on FINRA’s website, James Ortega had less than one year in the securities industry.  He has 3 Disclosures on his FINRA CRD report.  One is an “Employment Separation After Allegations,” from December of 2018.  According to the report, Ortega was discharged from Allstate Insurance Company following allegations that, “Termination by parent property and casualty insurance company after allegations of utilizing prohibited software to obtain customer data from parent property and casualty insurance company. Not securities related.” There is a “Regulatory” disclosure on the report from April of 2019 alleging that, “Respondent Ortega failed to respond to FINRA request for information.” This resulted in a suspension from 4/29/2019 - 7/9/2019.  The other disclosure is the “Regulatory” dated October of 2020.
James Ortega was registered with the following firm:
06/29/2018 - 01/09/2019  ALLSTATE FINANCIAL SERVICES, LLC - Pompano Beach, FL
If you’ve experienced investment losses due to the former Allstate Financial Services broker, James Ortega of Pompano Beach, Florida, contact the Pompano Beach, Florida-based Soreide Law Group and speak to an experienced securities lawyer at no cost regarding the possible recovery of your financial losses through a FINRA arbitration at:  888-760-6552.
Soreide Law Group works on a contingency fee basis and represents our clients nationwide before FINRA.