FINRA’s Department of Enforcement has filed a Complaint against former Allstate Financial Services, LLC broker Elizabeth Ann Sollars for failing to provide information and documents and for failing to appear and provide testimony to FINRA pursuant to FINRA Rule 8210.
FINRA requested the information in connection with its investigation into allegations that Sollars misappropriated insurance customer premium payments while registered with her firm.
The Complaint was filed on June 7, 2021.
FINRA has suspended broker Scott Niekamp from the securities industry for three months for engaging in two outside business activities without providing prior written notice to his firm, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC. Additionally, Niekamp loaned money to a firm customer in violation of the firm’s written supervisory procedures and FINRA rules.
Niekamp’s suspension is scheduled to begin on July 7, 2021, and end on October 5, 2021. He was fined $10,000.
If you have lost money with Scott Niekamp, or Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, contact FINRA arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Department of Enforcement has filed a disciplinary proceeding complaint against financial advisor Marc Reda. The complaint alleges that from January 2017 to December 2019, while associated with Spartan Capital Securities, LLC, Mr. Reda recommended to all of his customers an investment strategy – actively trading in anticipation of corporate announcements – that was unsuitable because he failed to consider that the substantial commissions and costs associated with his investment strategy made it unlikely that his customers could profit from it.
The recommended strategy and its high total costs allegedly harmed his customers. The complaint alleges that across 66 customer accounts in which Mr. Reda executed ten or more trades connected with his unsuitable investment strategy, Mr. Reda charged $952,764 in commissions and fees, while the customers lost $934,482.
If you or a loved one were a customer of broker Marc Augustus Reda or Spartan Capital Securities, LLC, contact securities arbitration law firm Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential review of your legal rights.
FINRA has suspended former LPL Financial LLC broker Jason Howell Poff from the securities industry. According to an Office of Hearing Officers (“OHO”) order, Poff engaged in two outside business activities without his firm’s approval.
Poff’s suspension began on June 7, 2021, and is scheduled to end on September 6, 2021. He was also fined $5,000.
If you have lost money with Jason Howell Poff, or LPL Financial LLC, contact FINRA arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
FINRA has fined Oppenheimer $525,000 for negligently misrepresenting cost basis information on more than 1,000 customer account statements and Forms 1099. The firm was also censured and consented to conduct a comprehensive review of the adequacy of its procedures, systems, and controls to track and report cost basis information relating to customer securities transactions.
Oppenheimer is a full-service broker-dealer that is headquartered in New York, New York. The firm has been a FINRA member since 1945. It has approximately 140 branch offices and over 1,900 registered representatives.
If you have lost money with Oppenheimer, contact FINRA arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
FINRA has barred former WestPark Capital broker Gregory Walter McCloskey from the securities industry. According to an Office of Hearing Officers (“OHO”) order, McCloskey participated in two undisclosed private securities transactions involving a customer who was an elderly, retired widow and then sought to conceal these transactions from his member firms and FINRA.
If you have lost money with Gregory Walter McCloskey, or WestPark Capital, contact FINRA arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
FINRA Disciplinary Proceeding No. 2018059242801
FINRA has suspended former Cetera Investment Services LLC broker Jimmie Darrel Summers from the securities industry for 45 business days for circumventing Cetera’s procedures that prohibited registered representatives from being named as a trustee, successor trustee, or executor for a firm customer, or from having power of attorney for a firm customer, except when the customer was a member of the representative’s immediate family.
Summers’ suspension began on May 17, 2021, and is scheduled to end on June 30, 2021. He was also fined $5,000.
If you have lost money with Jimmie Darrel Summers or Cetera Investment Services LLC, contact FINRA arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
On June 8, 2021, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and Titan Securities entered into a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) whereby Titan Securities consented to a censure and $20,000 fine. The sanctions are a result of Titan Securities’ failure to properly conduct an evaluation of a broker’s proposed sale of Future Income Payments to customers.
Unrelatedly, just last week, Titan Securities CEO and owner Brad Brooks was suspended for one year for failing to supervise a broker’s outside business activities between 2009 and 2012.
FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent No. 2019061705101
On June 2, 2021, FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council modified a FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers decision from 2019 that was filed by FINRA’s Department of Enforcement against Titan Securities, Brad Brooks, and broker Richard Demetriou. The modified order has resulted in a one-year suspension of Titan Securities’ CEO and owner Mr. Brooks.
The enforcement action arose out of alleged misconduct of Mr. Demetriou’s involvement with a private placement of preferred units in a limited partnership, RBCP Preferred, LLC (“RBCP”). RBCP was organized by the owner of Mr. Demetriou’s previous member firm, who employed Mr. Demetriou to solicit investments from Mr. Demetriou’s previous firm, and Mr. Demetrious represented that RBCP was offered to them as a means of recouping those losses. Mr. Demetriou recommended RBCP, made misrepresentations concerning the supposed collateral securing the investments, and told customers that an investment of 10 percent of their previous losses would result in recovery of their lost investments, plus a profit – alleged returns of more than 1,000 percent. The investors did not recoup their losses but instead lost an additional $337,000 when RBCP failed, and the alleged collateral was not foreclosed.
FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council made the following findings:
FINRA has barred former Wavecrest Securities, LLC and Pickwick Capital Partners, LLC broker Louis Kreisberg from the securities industry for failing to cooperate with a FINRA investigation.
The matter originated from a FINRA investigation of Kreisberg’s potential participation in private placement offerings.
If you have lost money with Louis Kreisberg, Wavecrest Securities, LLC, or Pickwick Capital Partners, LLC, contact FINRA arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
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