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…
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…
An in and out trading strategy refers to short-term trading in an investor’s account. In other words, buying in and selling out of securities in a short period of time with no real basis for the stockbroker’s recommendation in either the suitability of the securities or the trading strategy. In…
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…
On September 8, 2020, FINRA filed a complaint against former Westpark Capital and Laidlaw & Company broker Bryan Gabriel Mazliach (CRD#: 5518438). The complaint alleges that Mazliach engaged in excessive trading in 7 customer accounts and executed over 400 unauthorized trades in 10 customer accounts. Many of the investors who suffered…
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…
FINRA has suspended Frank Venturelli from the securities industry for 11 months. Frank Venturelli was a financial advisor and registered representative at the following firms: Arive Capital Markets, Bay Ridge, NY (September 2019 to December 2019); and First Standard Financial Company LLC, Red Bank, NJ (November 2014 to September 2019).…
FINRA has permanently barred Jeffrey A. Broten from the securities industry. Jeffrey Broten was a financial advisor and registered representative at the following firms: Newbridge Securities Corporation (affiliated with Black River Wealth Management LTD), Morristown, NJ (August 2019 to December 2019); First Standard Financial Company LLC, Red Bank, NJ (February…