FINRA has sanctioned Coastal Equities, Inc. for its failure to reasonably supervise a stockbroker who recommended excessive and unsuitable trades in the accounts of customers. Coastal Equities, Inc. was censured and ordered to pay $270,320 in restitution to clients, plus $9,589 in interest. FINRA alleged that between October 2016 and…
**Update: 3/22/2021** On December 21, 2020, the state of Maryland revoked Mr. Wesselt’s registration. In addition, in December 2020, two additional customers filed complaints concerning the suitability of recommendations made by Mr. Wesselt. Original Post: Financial Advisor Richard Michael Wesselt BARRED by FINRA for Recommendations in Unsuitable Variable Annuity Investments…
FINRA has barred stockbroker Lawrence Goldstein from the securities industry. Lawrence Goldstein was a registered financial advisor with McNally Financial Services Corporation in Sparks, Nevada, from April 2010 until February 28, 2020. According to public records, Mr. Goldstein refused to cooperate with a FINRA investigation in whether he engaged in…
FINRA has suspended financial advisor Ivan Shore from the securities industry for three months and fined him $5,000. Ivan Shore has been a stockbroker at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. since 1997. FINRA alleged that between July 1, 2011, and December 31, 2015, Ivan Shore engaged in an unsuitable pattern of…
FINRA has permanently barred stockbroker Vonna Kay Husby from the securities industry. The expulsion was handed down by FINRA because Ms. Kay Husby ceased cooperating with FINRA in connection with FINRA’s investigation into whether Husby served as a Power of Attorney and opened an undisclosed bank account that she allegedly…
**Update: 3/22/2021** Ms. Cowden has been the subject of two additional customer disputes since November 2020. First, in November 2020, a customer filed a securities arbitration complaint alleging $400,000 in damages concerning a real estate security recommendation. The causes of action included breach of fiduciary duty, unauthorized trading, and elder…
On October 9, 2020, FINRA suspended Donatas B. Vildzius from the securities industry for six months and fined him $5,000. This sanction is the third time Mr. Vildzius has been suspended by FINRA, with previous suspensions in 2006 and 2014. Donatas Vildzius is a stockbroker and registered representative at Network…
FINRA has filed an enforcement complaint against Stephen Sloane, alleging that from January 2014 to January 2018, he recommended an unsuitable investment strategy to at least 14 customers. The complaint alleges that Sloane did not have a reasonable basis for recommending that his customers engage in active, short-term trading of…
On August 12, 2020, Morgan Stanley and FINRA entered into a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) over allegations that it failed to reasonably supervise its former broker Kevin Gunnip. As part of the AWC, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $175,000 fine and was censured by FINRA. It…
Today, UBS Group AG announced that its net profit almost doubled in the third quarter to nearly $2.1 billion from $1.05 billion from a year earlier. Meanwhile, as UBS and other large investment banking firms continue to rake in huge profits, UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy investors continue to suffer avoidable…