The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published a news release on their website, May 22, 2012, announcing that it has fined Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. $3.5 million.  This fine was for 'providing inaccurate mortgage performance information, supervisory failures and other violations in connection with subprime residential mortgage-backed securitizations (RMBS).' FINRA notes in their article that the issuers of RMBS […]

In a May 24th, 2012, article from Ft. Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel, Jon Burstein writes that an investment adviser from Ft. Lauderdale, and others, exploited trust and friendships within the Ft. Lauderdale gay community of Wilton Manors to help fuel a multimillion-dollar investment fraud, according a lawsuit brought this week by a group of investors. There were fourteen residents of […]

Many of our clients ask about FINRA's BrokerCheck.  Located on FINRA's website, finra.org, BrokerCheck is defined by FINRA as "a free tool to help investors research the professional backgrounds of current and former FINRA-registered brokerage firms and brokers, as well as investment adviser firms and representatives. It should be the first resource investors turn to […]

Soreide Law Group, PLLC, is currently investigating claims against Douglas A. Leone of Newport Coast Securities, Irvine, California.  Leone was previously, according to FINRA's Brokercheck,  located in New York. Currently, according to FINRA's Brokercheck, Leone has 3 pending customer disputes against him and has other cases that have been settled in arbitration.  The alleged charges against him that were settled […]

As of today, Facebook (FB) shares have fallen roughly 18.4 percent from their $38 IPO price, within the first three days of trading, reducing the value of stock sold in the IPO by more than $2.9 billion. It was announced that Facebook, Inc., Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, and the banks, including Morgan Stanley, are being sued by shareholders,  […]

In a May 21, 2012 article from the InvestmentNews.com website, Bruce Kelly writes that the SEC is looking at “several areas of high risk” in the securities industry. Some of the areas they are looking into  include broker-dealer due diligence, net capital levels at broker-dealers and “dark pools” of liquidity, said Julius Leiman-Carbia, associate director […]

Soreide Law Group is currently investigating claims against brokers who have over concentrated their clients into Facebook stock. Amazingly, Facebook's p/e (Price to Earnings) ratio is 105 to 1.  Consider for a moment that a fairly valued stock is normally around 15 to 1.  Apple, for example, is 13 to 1, Microsoft is 11 to […]

Patel v. Balchandani, FINRA ID # 11-00973 (Louisville, KY, 5/4/2012) - A FINRA Arbitration Panel awarded approximately $1 million, including $200,000 in punitive damages, to a pair of customers who alleged a churning scheme targeting Indian-Americans. The following is part of the "Case Summary" that was presented on FINRA's website: "Claimants asserted the following causes […]

The following information is from FINRA’s website under, “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, May, 2012.” Sean Donald Premock (CRD #3175558, Registered Representative, Fort Lauderdale, Florida)   submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Premock […]