VFinance Investments Inc. of Boca Raton, FL, was 1.) fined $27,500 by FINRA for alleged failure to immediately publish a bid for several OTC securities that were higher than earlier bids, and 2.) fined $17,500 and ordered to pay $2,617 to customers for failure to use the most favorable prices for customers in the sale […]

Susan M. Diamond, Lake Worth, FL was fined $10,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and received a four month suspension. Felix Investment, the New Jersey based firm she worked with, was additionally fined $300,000 and Frank G. Mazzola who is part owner of Felix, was barred from the industry by FINRA. According to […]

BENJAMIN L. GRANT, financial advisor, and his firm Sage Advisory Group based in Boston, were found liable for fraud by a federal jury in Massachusetts. This case was originally filed in 2010 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the SEC's complaint, allegedly Benjamin Lee Grant of Boston persuaded his former brokerage customers […]

MICHAEL V. BORJA (CRD# 5451360) has been barred from working in the financial industry in the State of Florida for seven years after he was cited by regulators for alleged 'violations of trust.' In an August 8th. order, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation said that Michael Vincent Borja, a former wealth advisor with Wells […]

GEORGE BUSSANICH 55, of Park Ridge, New Jersey, and his son, GEORGE BUSSANICH Jr., 34, of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, have agreed to pay $5.5 million, which includes $4 million restitution to their approximately 30 victims. The pair allegedly scammed their investors through the sale of unregistered security notes, and then used investors' money […]

In an August 8, 2014, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS article, Patrick Danner writes about the stock broker Matthew A. Bell, and others, charged with securities fraud. Bell was arrested last month after he, along with six others, were indicted in a $300 million stock manipulation scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed civil […]

Virginia broker, Donna Jessee Tucker, (CRD# 4696985) was charged by the SEC in Roanoke, Virginia, with defrauding her elderly clients. Tucker allegedly stole her clients' money for her own personal use and falsified the account statements to cover up her fraud. Allegedly, Tucker stole $730,289 from her elderly clients and then used the money to […]

On July 31, 2014, former Ameriprise Financial Services financial advisor, Michelle Lee Kern, 36, of Sacramento, CA, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $642,625 in restitution for financial advisor fraud. Michele Kern was a licensed financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. in Roseville, CA, from 2009 through December 2012, […]

INTL FCStone Securities Inc. (CRD #45993, Winter Park, Florida) was censured, fined $70,000, ordered to pay $62,297.13 plus interest in restitution to customers, and required to revise its WSPs (Written Supervisory Procedures). According to the FINRA report, allegedly INTL FCStone Securities Inc., partially executed customer limit orders in OTC (over-the-counter) securities after it traded each […]