FINRA to Keep “Bad Broker” List Confidential
Early in 2017, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) created an investigatory arm to target “high-risk” stockbrokers. The unit has conducted hundreds of examinations — scrutinizing specific stockbrokers, who it suspects are breaking the law. The targeted “bad brokers” could be costing consumers millions – if not billions – of dollars in financial losses. However,
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You Won’t Believe What This Broker Did to a Blind 82-Year-Old Investor
Imagine a blind, 82-year-old woman who is wheelchair-bound. Then, her husband dies, and she has to manage her investment accounts by herself. Clearly, this woman is susceptible to financial fraud. Now, imagine what would happen when an unscrupulous stockbroker could do whatever he wants with her money. In a recent investment fraud case, this is
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FINRA Boots 2 Brokers for Energy Sector Overconcentration
It’s unlawful for investment advisors to overconcentrate their clients into one sector of the economy. Nevertheless, in recent years, numerous brokers have put all of their clients “eggs” into the highly volatile energy sector basket — which includes oil and gas securities. Some of these investors have lost big due to energy sector overconcentration, and
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FINRA Cracks Down on Churning: 1 Firm Pays $1.67M, 1 Broker Barred
Churning happens when a stockbroker makes a large number of unnecessary trades in a client’s account — just to generate commissions. Churning was more common in the past, 30 or 40 years ago, but it still happens today. In fact, on January 8, the results of two churning cases came to light. Arbitrators from the
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Ohio Nursing Home Left Patients to Rot to Death
Current and former employees of an Ohio nursing facility are facing criminal charges after they left two patients to rot to death. The grand jury indicted seven nurses who worked at Whetstone Gardens and Care Center in Columbia, Ohio for mistreating the two patients. The ex-nurses are facing 34 charges, including involuntary manslaughter and patient
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Your Elderly Loved One Could be a Victim of Financial Abuse
Was your loved one the victim of financial abuse? Perhaps an unscrupulous party took advantage of your mother or father’s age and financial situation. Even worse, maybe the stockbroker in charge of your parent’s financial accounts failed to take action to stop the abuse. These kinds of scenarios are a lot more common than you
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Were You Blindsided by Your Stockbroker’s Recommendations?
Smart and prudent investors rely on their financial advisors for the best investment recommendations. Nevertheless, advisors in these circumstances cannot recommend investments that their clients don’t understand. Imagine that a 50-year-old doctor goes to an investment advisor with the objective of “speculative growth.” The advisor starts trading puts and calls based on future price expectations;
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Almost 40 Ex-Students Accuse Orthodox Rabbis of Sexual Abuse
In New York City, 38 former students of an Orthodox Jewish school claim that two prominent rabbis from the 1960s-1980s molested them. The students attended Yeshiva University High School for Boys in New York City, and no one took their claims seriously. About Religious Sexual Abuse Rabbis and leaders within religious institutions offer spiritual and
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Annuity Scam Targets
Dishonest annuity agents love to target retirees and people close to retirement. That’s because retirees have a lifetime’s worth of savings to invest. So, the bigger the investment, the bigger the commission for the agent. There are a lot more characteristics that annuity scam artists look for. Some are inexperienced investors, people with large 401(k)s and
Read MoreAnnuity Scams: What Dishonest Agents Do
Dishonest annuity agents will stop at nothing to sell you their products. They will put you through high-pressure sales meetings, tempt you with signing bonuses and push you into today-only offers. They’ll use the simplest of terms to describe difficult-to-understand annuity contracts so you don’t know what you’re really getting into. And, if you ask
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