Kyle Timothy Holland (CRD #2308543, Registered Principal, Austin, Texas)  was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Holland consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that, acting in the capacity of his member firm’s managing director, he engaged in activities requiring […]

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., issued an investor alert about the risks of ETNs, exchange-traded notes, after an investigation of Credit Suisse and Barclays ETNs this year. ETNs are often thought of as as ETFs, exchange-traded funds, but in reality, the two are very different.  ETNs are promissory notes written by banks to deliver the returns of an […]

There will be a major revamping of suitability mandates effective July 9, 2012, that has some in the broker-dealer world worried about much broader obligations to oversee customer accounts and investment strategies, writes Dan Jamieson in an article from InvestmentNews.com, July 5, 2012. There will be a rule which requires brokers to perform reasonable diligence on products, understand those […]

In a press-release dated July 2nd, 2012, from their website, The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced a pilot program specifically designed for large arbitration cases for claims of $10 million or more. This program enables parties to customize the administrative process to better suit special needs of the larger case and allows them to bypass certain FINRA […]

Soreide Law Group, PLLC, has begun investigating potential claims against Money Concepts Capital Corp. and broker, Gurudeo "Buddy" Persaud. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former broker in Orlando, Fla., who defrauded investors in an astrology-based Ponzi scheme. The SEC alleges that Gurudeo “Buddy” Persaud lured family, friends, and others into investing in his firm, White Elephant Trading […]

John Herman Fick (CRD #4197483, Registered Representative, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina) was fined $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for 18 months. This fine must be paid either upon Fick’s reassociation with a FINRA member firm after his suspension, or before the filing of any application or request for relief from any statutory […]

  James Thomas Corne (CRD #4184489, Registered Representative, Duncan, South Carolina)   fined $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for three months.  Without admitting or denying the findings, Corne consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he falsified customers’ signatures on various securities and non-securities-related […]

 Joel William Carlson (CRD #2844760, Registered Representative, Vadnais Heights, Minnesota)  was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Carlson consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he solicited his member firm’s customers to give him a total of at least $734,000, fraudulently misrepresenting to the customers that he would […]

  Tsarina Lau Branyan (CRD #5628096, Registered Representative, Huntington Beach, California) has been fined $7500.00 and was suspended from associating with FINRA members in any capacity for 20 business days. This fine is payable when Branyan re-enters the securities industry. These sanctions were based on FINRA's findings that Branyan sold, or participated in the sales of, securities without […]