A Morgan Stanley broker, Vladimir Eydelman, 42, and a law firm employee, Steven Metro, 40, managing clerk at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York, were charged with insider trading on March 19th. Steven Metro, was accused of stealing confidential data on 13 corporate transactions and telling a middleman who then passed it on […]

The following summation of information is from FINRA's website under, "Disciplinary and Other Actions, March, 2014." Ariel Luis Hernandez (CRD #2684424, Registered Principal, Pembroke Pines, Florida) was barred by FINRA. Hernandez, according to FINRA's report, allegedly did not comply with requests for documents, information and testimony. FINRA began an investigation because of a Uniform Termination […]

Soreide Law Group, (888) 760-6552, obtained this summation of information from FINRA’s website listed under “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, March, 2014.” Peter Bruno (CRD #1180960, Registered Principal, Boca Raton, Florida) was fined $20,000 and suspended by FINRA for three months. FINRA's findings stated that Bruno marketed his investment services through various media, however it […]

Patrick J. Sullivan, a 44 year-old Cumberland, Rhode Island, financial advisor, was barred from the securities industry by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), after pleading guilty to fraud charges. The SEC issued the order on March 21st, 2014. Patrick Sullivan was a member and also a co-founder of and insurance business, Winchester Financial […]

Colony Capital LLC, whose chairman and founder, 63-year-old billionaire,Thomas J. Barrack, Jr., began Colony Investors VIII, LP, in 2007, a $4 billion fund which lost over 60% in the first quarter. Barrack and other private-equity managers, spent over $1.6 trillion in buyouts between 2005 to 2007. Many believe this led to the worst financial crisis […]

A Seattle investment advisor, Mark F. Spangler, 60, was sentenced March 13, 2014, to 16 years in prison on 32 counts of fraud and money laundering. Spangler, without his clients' knowledge, invested more than $46 million into two very risky startup companies which he also had ownership interest. Beginning in 1998, Spangler raised more than […]

The struggling Puerto Rican municipal bond market is forcing the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) to hire more arbitrators in Puerto Rico, after they were swamped with over 200 investor lawsuits. After Detroit filed bankruptcy last summer, Puerto Rico's municipal bond market has been struggling. Investors are afraid of Puerto Rico's municipal debt of […]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc, also known as FINRA, has fined two firms, Triad Advisors Inc., $650,000, and Securities America Inc., $625,000. These two independent broker/dealers are owned by Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. This $1.275 million fine was imposed on March 12th., 2014, due to failure to supervise the hundreds of brokers who […]

Jeffrey G. Kelly, 45, of Hilliard, Ohio, owner and operator of Superior Financial Resources, LLC, J.G. Kelly Financial Group, LLC, J.G. Kelly Equities Group, LLC, and JGK Group, was sentenced by a federal judge sentenced to 60 months in prison for defrauding investors of $1.5 million. According to prosecutors, those investors were not just his […]