The following information was found on FINRA's website's "Disciplinary and Other Actions, November, 2012." Charles Eugene Bishop Jr. (CRD #1621380, Registered Principal, Pompano Beach, Florida) submitted an Offer of Settlement in which he was fined $7,500 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for two years. Without admitting or denying the […]

Jane E. O'Brien, 59, of Needham, MA, is facing securities fraud for allegedly bilking her client out of $240,000. O'Brien was working for Merrill Lynch in Boston as a financial advisor at the time. O'Brien allegedly told an elderly woman she was investing her money in thousands of shares of a New Hampshire-based company called […]

FINRA publishes this quarterly review to provide firms with a sampling of recent disciplinary actions involving misconduct by registered representatives. This sample includes settled matters and decisions in litigated cases (National Adjudicatory Council (NAC) decisions and SEC decisions in FINRA cases). These summaries call attention to, and remind registered representatives and member firms of, specific […]

Michael John Hester (CRD #3044429, Registered Representative, Tampa, Florida) was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Hester consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he engaged in a private securities transaction by accepting checks totaling $20,000 from individuals to purchase […]

Raymond James, FINRA ID # 11-03503 (Bradenton, FL, 8/21/2012) A split FINRA arbitration panel awarded $985,700, including triple damages, to an elderly customer on his misappropriation claim. This award against Paul David Arnold, and Raymond James and Associates, Inc., of Bradenton, Florida, involved the purchasing of an annuity, electronic transfers and conversion of funds of […]

Stanley Neil Crooms (CRD #852539, Registered Representative, St. Petersburg, Florida) was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Crooms consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to provide all of the information FINRA requested as part of an investigation into the allegations that he had […]

In a recent SEC complaint, there were allegations made against The Nutmeg Group, LLC, and others, that Nutmeg has invested fund assets almost entirely in private investments in public equity ("PIPE") transactions. Nutmeg was an investment adviser of 15 funds.  The SEC alleges in it's complaint that Nutmeg improperly commingled investor and fund assets, and misappropriated over $4 million in fund assets, failed to maintain […]

Soreide Law Group, PLLC, is currently allerting  all investors who suffered losses with  Brenda Eschbach of California.  Those investors may be able to recover their losses through a FINRA arbitration. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on February 14, 2012, it filed a civil injunctive action in the U.S. District Court for the Central District […]

The following information is from FINRA’s website under, “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, May, 2012.” Sean Donald Premock (CRD #3175558, Registered Representative, Fort Lauderdale, Florida)   submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Premock […]