Thursday, April 11, 2013

FINRA Accuses Success Trade Securities of Massive Fraud

FINRA has accused Success Trade Securities of being involved in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving professional athletes, among others.  "The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has accused Success Trade Securities and it’s owner, Fuad Ahmed, of lying about key facts surrounding investments secured by 58 clients. FINRA did not release the names of the athletes ensnared in the scam, however, an 18-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports determined that a large portion of those involved were players represented by Jade Private Wealth Management."

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/not-for-attribution/feds-nfl-nba-players-ensnared-18-million-investment-181232863.html

If you believe you are the victim of a Ponzi scheme such as the one allegedly perpetrated by Success Trade Securities and Jade Private Wealth Management, please contact the Law Office of Peter M. Spett for a free consultation to evaluate your legal rights and claims:  www.spettlaw.com

Friday, March 22, 2013

Lack of Supervision at LPL Financial

The New York Times had a front page article in its March 21, 2013 edition concerning the rise of non-traditional brokerage firms and their lack of supervision over their financial advisors.  These new independent brokerage firms are coming under increased scrutiny by securities regulators because the stockbrokers associated with them act more like contractors than employees.  This makes it much more difficult for the independent brokerage house to maintain proper compliance procedures to ensure that their stockbrokers are properly advising their customers.  In particular, the article focuses on the abuses and sanctions imposed on the fourth largest brokerage firm in the United States, LPL Financial, came to a $2.5 million settlement with the State of Massachusetts in February for what the secretary of the commonwealth called a "complete lack of supervision" of its stockbrokers.   http://nyti.ms/Yv4346

Helpful Investor Resources

Welcome to my blog page.  In this blog, my goal is to provide news and information on recent developments concerning investor rights and recovery of losses due to various kinds of misdeeds by financial advisors and brokerage firms.  My law office concentrates in representing investors who have lost their savings because of  securities fraud and stockbroker misconduct.

In addition to the information that can be found on my website (www.spettlaw.com), there are several other websites I recommend where investors can find reliable information to ensure they are getting proper financial advice. The regulatory agencies that act as the investing public’s watchdogs have websites that are very useful to those who want to become informed and educated about investing and to be alerted about pitfalls in the securities markets.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) -- a private, independent, non-governmental organization which regulates its member brokerage firms and exchange markets – has a comprehensive website (www.finra.org/Investors) that provides investor education and announcements about the securities industry, including FINRA BrokerCheck®. For free, anyone can use this search tool to look up a stockbroker’s professional background, including any publicly recorded complaints and regulatory actions against the broker.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the division of the federal government whose mission is to protect investors, created a website dedicated to investor education and research (www.investor.gov). The website is a good resource for investors seeking answers to many questions about securities and the financial markets. For example, the website recently posted a bulletin by the SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy entitled “13 Things Everyone Should Know About Investing.”

Two other reliable websites for education and research are those of the Investor Protection Institute (www.investorprotection.org) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (www.nasaa.org).