FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is investigating independent broker-dealers that sold variable annuities with subaccounts invested in hedge funds that resulted in $18 million in client losses during the credit crisis writes Bruce Kelly in a recent article for InvestmentNews.com. FINRA has been investigating the sale of a variable annuity issued by Sun Life […]

Andrew James Aragona (CRD #1320844, Registered Representative, Deerfield Beach,Florida) was fined $138,500 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for one year. These sanctions were based on findings that Aragona recommended unsuitable variable annuity switches to an elderly customer. The FINRA findings stated that Aragona failed to conduct an objective, quantitative […]

In an article for InvestmentNews.com, on February 1st, 2012, Mark Schoeff Jr. writes that in a market defined by low interest rates, investors are searching for higher returns. But brokers better be careful how they try to deliver those results, according to their primary regulator. In a 16 page letter posted on its website, the Financial Industry […]

Raymond James Financial Services Inc., has paid a $1.79 million arbitration award to an 87-year-old client after going to state court to appeal the judgment writes Darla Mercado, in a November 30, 2011, article for the InvestmentNews.com. The Honorable Judge Emily Tobolowsky, of the 298th Judicial District Court in Dallas last month confirmed the award […]

WASHINGTON —It was announced on FINRA's website that The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has suspended William Bailey, a former NEXT Financial Group, Inc. broker of Mesa, Arizona, from the securities industry for two years for unsuitable and excessive trading of mutual funds and variable annuities. Bailey also engaged in discretionary trading without receiving prior written […]

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has ordered Wedbush Securities and one of its former brokers to pay $2.9 million in damages and fees to an elderly investor who allegedly fell victim to a faulty investment scheme. The founder Edward Wedbush, and broker Debbie Michelle Saleh were ordered to pay $2,865,885 in damages. The […]

Darla Mercado of InvestmentNews.com, recently wrote that Finra's variable annuity (VA) suitability rule should be old news to broker-dealers, but firms that want to avoid an arbitration land mine ought to review their procedures. Mercado writes this warning came directly from Andrew A. Favret, associate vice president and regional chief counsel at the Financial Industry Regulatory […]