Daniel Edward Becerril II (CRD #4489715, Registered Representative, Huntington Beach, California) has been barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity and this sanction was based on FINRA's findings that Becerril made willful misrepresentations and omissions to his customer by telling her that he would invest an $11,500 inheritance in a mutual fund, when […]

  Corey Lamar Battey (CRD #4123425, Registered Representative, Clermont, Florida) was fined $5,000 and has ben suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for six months. This fine will be due and payable if and when Battey re-enters the securities industry. These sanctions were based on FINRA's findings that Battey failed to respond to […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged investment management company OppenheimerFunds Inc. and its sales and distribution division on June 6th., 2012, with making misleading statements about two of its mutual funds  that struggled in the credit crisis in late 2008. The investigation found that Oppenheimer used derivative instruments known as total return swaps (TRS contracts) to […]

Yesterday, June 12, 2012,  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged 14 sales agents who misled investors and illegally sold securities for a Long Island-based investment firm at the center of a reported $415 million Ponzi scheme.  The SEC alleges that the agents promised falsely that investor returns would be as high as 12 to 14 percent […]

 It was announced this week that the boards of NASDAQ OMX Group and The NASDAQ Stock Market are seeking a review by the Securities and Exchange Commission of a one-time voluntary accommodations program for members who were disadvantaged by technical problems that happened during the Facebook (FB) IPO on May 18. The technical problems have been remedied according to an […]

In May, a FINRA arbitration panel fined Brookstone Securities Inc., $1 million over the sale of risky CMOs (collateralized mortgage obligations) and said they made “fraudulent misrepresentation and omissions of material fact in selling complex, esoteric and risky tranches of [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" […]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) has recently hired Robert Colby, a former high-ranking SEC official, as the regulator’s top lawyer. Mr. Colby is a partner in the Washington office of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, and will join FINRA on June 18th. as the new chief legal officer. Grant Callery, current Finra general counsel, […]

The municipal bond market is nowhere near as bad as it was few years ago. That doesn't mean the muni market is free of risks and challenges for financial advisers building bond portfolios for clients writes Jeff Benjamin in a May, 2012, article from InvestmentNews.com. George Friedlander, managing director and chief municipal strategist with Citi Investment […]

Soreide Law Group, PLLC,  has been contacted recently by several clients that have complained of a high level of trading activity by Vision Financial Markets.Vision Financial Markets, a futures commission merchant (FCM) and introducing broker (IB), is registered with the NFA. Vision Financial Markets  is a Futures Commission Merchant and Commodity Pool Operator with headquarters in […]