FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority levied a total of $68 million in civil fines during 2012, according to statistics released by FINRA on Tuesday, January 8, 2013. This was slightly less than $71.9 million imposed by FINRA in 2011. The high-profile cases against large brokerages accounted for about one-third of total fines in 2012. […]

Massachusetts securities regulators sued LPL Financial, LLC, in December over sales practices of brokers regarding the REITs. Secretary of the Commonwealth, William Galvin, charged LPL Financial with a failure to supervise registered reps who sold the nontraded REITs in violation of both state limitations and the company's rules. The Securities Division also charged LPL Financial […]

Soreide Law Group is currently investigating the Wells Timberland REIT for the investors who suffered financial losses. FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, fined Wells Investment Securities $300,000 for improper sales materials when selling the Wells Timberland REIT, from May 2007 to September 2009. (Wells Investment Securities neither admitted nor denied the charges.) FINRA stated […]

In an effort to protect investors over the sale of private placements, the new Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Rule 5123, was effective on December 3, 2012. Under the new FINRA Rule 5123, FINRA member firms that sell an issuer’s securities in a private placement will be required, subject to certain exemptions (which include private […]

Securities Lawyer, Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, is currently investigating Gramercy Securities, Inc. This brokerage has been alleged to have placed unsophisticated investors' money into unsuitable investments. There have been claims, for example, of a recent widow losing her entire net worth by investing in risky private placements. Some of these risky private placements […]

Securities Attorney, Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group was recently quoted in an article from the Reno Gazette-Journal, written by Jaclyn O’Malley regarding former broker Gary Harrison Lane. The quote reads as follows: "Florida securities attorney Lars Soreide said Tuesday he has represented a few clients who have recently settled with broker firms connected to […]

Recently, Morgan Keegan entered into a settlement with FINRA for conduct surrounding non traditional etfs sold to retail customers. The following is information from FINRA's website. Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. (CRD #4161, Memphis, Tennessee) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $365,000. The firm consented […]

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has eased up on a controversial interpretation of its new suitability rule in a move that is bound to make the industry happy writes Dan Jamieson in a recent artilce in InvestmentNews.com. The new guidance issued December 10th., 2012, FINRA backtracked from an earlier interpretation of the rule, which […]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy,have issued a new Investor Alert called Year-End Investment Considerations for Individual Investors. This new alert provides individual investors with a few suggestions for year-end investment planning as the year draws to a close. “The end of the year is a […]