JHS Capital Advisors Inc. and a former broker, Enver R. Alijaj, were fined $1.9 million in a Finra arbitration last week stemming from allegations that the broker traded in a client's account excessively to generate commissions. The broker was also forced to pay $500,000 to settle a previous charge of churning. Churning is illegal and unethical. On the […]

  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 […]

  Sean K. Hannon (CRD #4296260, Registered Representative, Cary, North Carolina)   has submitted an Offer of Settlement in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Hannan, without admitting or denying FINRA's allegations, consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to provide investigative […]

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 […]

  BGC Financial, L.P. (CRD #19801, New York, New York) was censured and fined $40,000 by FINRA. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it permitted a disqualified individual to associate with the firm without regulatory approval. These findings stated that the firm […]