Soreide Law Group is reviewing potential investor claims relating to securities broker Joseph Augustien Lianzo (CRD#: 4516842, Melville, New York). Namely, Lianzo, who has worked for securities firm SW Financial since September 2017, agreed to an eight-month suspension as a securities broker to resolve allegations of his unsuitable trading. Also, a Maryland regulator revoked his securities broker registration. Moreover, two investors filed disputes about Lianzo alleging sales practice violations. Here’s a closer look at these disclosures, including what you could do if you experienced losses.
Evidently, FINRA sanctioned Joseph Lianzo to resolve allegations of his violation of FINRA rules on suitability. FINRA says that Lianzo engaged in unsuitable trading in a client's account when he worked for Laidlaw and unsuitable trading in three other accounts when he worked for SW Financial.
It appears that Lianzo exercised control over clients' accounts, meaning that he recommended trades, and clients accepted his recommendations in most instances. But this resulted in clients’ accounts having high turnover rates and cost-to-equity ratios. Notably, clients sustained losses because of Lianzo.
FINRA says that one client’s account had an annualized turnover rate of 35 and an annualized cost-to-equity ratio of 145 percent. Lianzo caused the client to incur $42,487 in losses and to pay $15,169 in commissions.
The securities broker caused a different client to have a turnover rate of 15 and an annualized cost-to-equity ratio of 65 percent. Supposedly, Lianzo’s recommended trades led to $95,570 in losses. It appears that Lianzo generated $22,975 in commissions because of these trades.
The regulator also notes that Joseph Lianzo caused a third client’s account to have a turnover rate of 18 and an annualized cost-to-equity ratio of 78 percent. This produced $112,173 in losses and $51,781 in commissions. And the fourth client incurred $43,078 in losses and paid $37,581 in commissions.
Moreover, FINRA notes that Lianzo made unauthorized trades in two clients’ accounts. In 2017, Lianzo engaged in unauthorized trading of a Laidlaw client's account, and in 2018, he traded without an SW Financial client’s knowledge or consent.
Evidently, a client of Salomon Whitney Financial disputed Joseph Lianzo’s sales practices. First, in this April 2018 FINRA Arbitration Claim, the client alleged churning of their account, meaning that Lianzo supposedly traded to make commissions from the client. Secondly, Lianzo allegedly made unsuitable and unauthorized trades. Further, the client alleged that Lianzo acted in breach of contract with respect to equity trades. For this reason, Salomon Whitney Financial paid $14,999 to the client to resolve this matter.
In a second dispute reported on Joseph Lianzo’s BrokerCheck record, a client of JP Turner Company alleges sales practice violations. Like the other dispute, this client alleged breach of contract, churning, and unauthorized transactions. However, Lianzo also allegedly failed to follow this client’s instructions and made misrepresentations relating to equities transactions. Supposedly, he provided bad advice to the client regarding equity trading. Evidently, the client received $100,000 as a settlement of this dispute.
Did securities broker Joseph Lianzo cause you to experience losses? If so, call Soreide Law Group at (888) 760-6552 and speak with a skilled securities lawyer about a potential recovery of your losses. Soreide Law Group represents clients on a contingency fee basis and advances all costs. The firm has recovered meaningful compensation for United States investors who incurred losses from their financial advisors and securities brokers. Please note that Lianzo denies all allegations of his sales practice violations.
Summit Brokerage and Independent Financial Group each appear on a pending customer claim naming Gilbert Conrad (CRD 2746778). Both claims are unproven allegations. His BrokerCheck report also lists settled disputes at Arkadios Capital and Independent Financial Group.
On August 6, 2026, a customer filed a $400,000 FINRA arbitration naming Chad McQuade (CRD 5436281) and Northwestern Mutual. The claim involves outside, third-party real estate investments. It is pending, and McQuade disputes it in a written response.
Christopher Miller (CRD 4044818) has a customer dispute on BrokerCheck that settled on October 7, 2026 for $50,901. The disclosure lists Emerson Equity as the firm.
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