The following are statistics compiled by FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, posted recently to their website. The statistics show that investor complaints are down while disciplinary action is at a 5 year high. Investor Complaints Received by FINRA In 2007 there were 4,552 complaints received by FINRA. However, in 2011 there were 2,979 down […]

On the SEC's (Securities and Exchange Commission) website, it was announced they filed an injunctive action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against David L. Rothman of Richboro, PA, a registered representative, Vice President, and minority owner of Rothman Securities, Inc., a registered broker-dealer, for conducting a fraud by […]

The following information is from FINRA’s website under “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, November, 2012.” Ellen Joyce Erenstein (CRD #3244253, Registered Representative, Boynton Beach, Florida) was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Erenstein consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that […]

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, plan to warn parties in its arbitration hearings against using electronic devices to secretly record and transmit the proceedings writes Dan Jamieson in a recent article in InvestmentNews.com. This warning began by complaints from the Securities Experts' Roundtable Inc., a group of expert witnesses, about several instances of “electronic […]

Soreide Law Group, PLLC, has launched an investigation into the suspended Idaho broker, Vincenzo (Vince) Covino. Covino was employed at Legacy Wealth Management Group in Boise, and Prospera Financial Services. Covino was with LPL Financial until 2009. Vince Covino was fined and suspended by FINRA for borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a client, […]

Did you invest in Mountain V Oil and Gas, or Ridgewood Energy Funds I through Z? Typically, investing in an oil and gas deals or limited partnerships can be a speculative venture that may have the risks associated with illiquid investments. When making investments in oil and gas deals or energy limited partnerships, we highly […]

Soreide Law Group, PLLC, is currently investigating the marketing and sales of non-traditional exchange traded funds (ETFs) to investors. Many of the country's leading banks – including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo – were recently sanctioned by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for more than $9.1 million over their failure to supervise […]

FINRA publishes a quarterly review to provide firms with a sampling of recent disciplinary actions involving misconduct by registered representatives. "Willfully Failing to Disclose Material Information on a Form U4" Recently, FINRA settled a matter involving a registered representative who willfully failed to amend his Form U4 to disclose tax liens and judgments, and failed […]

Andrew Martin Abern (CRD #1610607, Registered Principal, Miami, Florida) was censured and fined $25,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, Abern consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he provided some customers with VA expense disclosure forms that contained inaccurate information; the forms understated the annual expenses that would be […]