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 […]

Brent Robert Bishop (CRD #2348912, Registered Principal, Tulsa, Oklahoma) has been barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity and ordered to pay restitution in the total amount of $58,000, plus interest, to customers. These sanctions were based on FINRA's findings that Bishop misappropriated funds from his member firm’s customers by intentionally converting $40,000 […]

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 […]

 Jeffrey Wayne Cimbal (CRD #2028791, Registered Principal, Parkland, Florida)  has been fined $20,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any principal capacity for five months. Without admitting or denying the findings, Cimbal consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he served as his member firm’s CCO, and for […]

  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 […]

 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 […]

On May 29th., 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a Miami-based hedge fund adviser for deceiving investors about whether its executives had personally invested in a Latin America-focused hedge fund. According to the SEC’s investigation, they found that Quantek Asset Management LLC made misrepresentations about fund managers having “skin in the game” along with investors in the $1 […]