Providence, RI, Broker Martin Feibish Barred by FINRA

The following information is from FINRA’s website under “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, February, 2013.”

Martin Benjamin Feibish (CRD #205556, Registered Representative, Providence, Rhode Island)

was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Feibish consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he developed a scheme to misappropriate more than $5 million from an elderly customer by investing her money in fictitious investment vehicles, and forging her relatives’ signatures.

According to FINRA, Feibish created false promissory notes through the company, which evidenced a purported interest in mortgage-backed securities. Feibish created and provided the customer with false documentation evidencing the purported mortgage-backed securities and IRS Form 1099s, to convince the customer that she was invested in legitimate investment vehicles. Feibish took funds from the customer for the non-existent investments and placed them in a bank account he controlled in his company’s name.

The findings also included that Feibish had checks issued from the company bank account to the customer. Feibish told the customer that these payments represented the interest payments from the investments, but were actually the return of the customer’s own money. Feibish convinced the customer to reinvest the money in additional fictitious investment vehicles, including promissory notes from a bank.

FINRA found that Feibish forged the names of the customer and her relatives to open trust accounts in their names at the bank. Payments were simply a return of the customer’s money.

FINRA also found that Feibish managed insurance plans belonging to the customer, and for the benefit of her
relatives. Feibish told the customer he was paying the premiums on those policies, when in fact he had forged the relatives’ signatures and borrowed approximately $280,000 against them. Feibish routinely had false documentation issued to the customer, including false promissory notes and falsified account statements.

FINRA Case #2011026750303

This ends the information from FINRA’s website.

If you find yourself in a similar situation with your broker or financial advisor, call Soreide Law Group for a free consultation with an attorney, 888-760-6552, or visit our website at: https://www.securitieslawyer.com.