Contact Us
By E-Mail
Please use the form below to submit your question.
NEWS
Fraud / Investigations
and More
Reebok founder claims longtime investment adviser and friend ran off with $25M
Paul Fireman says Arnold Mullen made unauthorized investments and stole money from his charitable foundation By John Goff February 12, 2010, 7:29 AM EST Reebok founder Paul Fireman is suing his longtime friend, investment adviser and accountant, claiming he stole $25 million from him and a charity. The adviser, Arnold Mullen, apparently had access to accounts belonging to the Reebok founder and his charitable foundation. But Mr. Fireman has accused Mr. Mullen of unlawfully making investments without his approval. Au...
N.Y. investment firm boss accused of skinning investors
By Associated Press February 9, 2010, 7:56 AM EST The president of an Albany investment firm is accused of selling fraudulent securities to investors across the country. Christopher Bass appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Homer on a felony charge of securities fraud on Monday and was held for a bail hearing Wednesday. The complaint says the scheme involved more than 200 clients who invested more than $5.5 million through Bass under the business names Revisco Finanz and Swiss Capital Harbor beginning in Janua...
Fla. man admits role in $20M N.J. stock scheme
By Associated Press January 22, 2010, 2:51 PM ES Federal prosecutors in New Jersey say a Florida man has admitted his role in a $20 million stock fraud and money laundering scheme. Gary Brown pleaded guilty Thursday to a one-count complaint that charged him with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, and agreed to forfeit approximately $650,000. The 61-year-old Sarasota man faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced in May. Brown admitted that from May 2002 through October 2...
N.J. man gets 18 years for real estate Ponzi scheme
By Associated Press January 15, 2010, 8:33 AM EST A New Jersey man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $100 million in restitution for masterminding what a judge described as one of the biggest real estate frauds in state history. Sixty-one year-old Wayne Puff of Old Bridge pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud. He admitted using his company, New Jersey Affordable Homes Corp., to lure real estate investors with promises of high returns. Prosecutors say it was a Ponzi scheme, using m...
Rothstein Ponzi victims may get paid back in AmEx points
By Associated Press January 12, 2010, 8:12 AM EST A Florida lawyer charged in a $1.2 billion fraud apparently heeded the American Express slogan "Don't leave home without it." Court records show Scott Rothstein racked up more than 20 million reward points on his American Express account. Cardholders typically receive one point for every dollar spent. Federal authorities want to use the rewards to pay back victims of Rothstein's alleged Ponzi scheme. The once-prominent attorney agreed last week to enter a guilty ple...
L.A. radio host accused of scamming investors to the tune of $20M
By Associated Press January 11, 2010, 2:52 PM EST The host of a radio business program is accused of taking part in a $20 million investment fraud targeting Iranian-Americans in the Los Angeles area. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that it's suing NewPoint Financial Services Inc., its two co-owners and its controller. The SEC got a court order freezing the company's assets. Federal officials say NewPoint co-owner John Farahi marketed the scheme while hosting a daily Persian-language business ...
Too scared to open statements, couple loses in arbitration
Finra says that Fidelity — as a custodian —isn't liable for investment losses of RIA's clients By Jed Horowitz January 10, 2010, 6:01 AM EST A New York couple who lost more than $2 million on financial and health care stock investments made by their independent adviser in 2008 and who stopped opening their monthly statements has failed in a bid to collect damages from Fidelity Investments, the custodian for their RIA. A three-person Finra panel last month denied the claim, adding support to brokerage firms' asser...
VA registered rep barred by Finra in annuity claims flap
By Darla Mercardo Finra has barred a registered representative after finding that the Virginia rep had misrepresented the return a client would receive on a deferred annuity. According to the regulator’s BrokerCheck records, Kimberly Sue Rutherford told a client that the annuity would generate a higher rate of return than what the policy terms offered. Ms. Rutherford allegedly provided the client with false annual account statements — inflating the account balance by more than $5,000 — as well as an altered annu...
A look back at 2009: The Year of the Ponzi
By InvestmentNews Staff December 29, 2009 If it felt like you were reading a story about a different Ponzi scheme nearly every day, that's because you probably were: There were an estimated 150 such investment scams broken up this year, for an average of roughly three Ponzis a week in 2009. That, of course, does not include the most notorious Ponzi schemer -- Bernie Madoff-- who was busted last December and is now serving a 150-year sentence in prison for bilking investors out of an estimated $65 billion. There were...
Number of busted Ponzi scams more than tripled in 2009
It was a rough year for Ponzi schemes. In 2009, the recession unraveled nearly four times as many of the investment scams as fell apart in 2008, with "Ponzi" becoming a buzzword again thanks to the collapse of Bernard Madoff's $50 billion plot. Tens of thousands of investors, some of them losing their life's savings, watched more than $16.5 billion disappear like smoke in 2009, according to an Associated Press analysis of scams in all 50 states. While the dollar figure was lower than in 2008, that's only because Madof...
US charges Fla. lawyer with $1B investment fraud
A once high-flying South Florida attorney who courted politicians and celebrities was arrested Tuesday on federal racketeering and fraud charges for allegedly operating a $1 billion investment fraud scheme using faked legal settlements, law enforcement officials said. Lawyer Scott Rothstein was led into the Miami FBI office in handcuffs following his early-morning arrest on five charges, including a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations or RICO law often used against the Mafia and other crimina...
Money manager and radio personality charged with foreign-currency fraud
SEC says Patrick Kiley, host of ‘Follow the Money,’ and a cohort ripped off investors in FX scam. By Sara Hansard November 24, 2009, 5:40 PM EST The SEC has obtained an emergency court order freezing the assets of a Minneapolis money manager and a nationally syndicated radio personality for allegedly operating a foreign-currency-trading scheme. Patrick Kiley pitched the unregistered investments on “Follow the Money,” a show that he hosted on radio stations nationwide, the Securities and Exchange Commission a...
Palace coup? 'Cash king' arrested, charged in alleged securities scam
By Associated Press [via Investment News] State and federal prosecutors have charged seven people in an alleged securities scam that cheated dozens of people out of $17 million. The Riverside County district attorney's office said Thursday that James Duncan, who called himself "the Cash King" in online videos, and Hendrix Montecastro each face 249 counts, including grand theft. Five others were also charged and arrested. Prosecutors say they used investment seminars, Internet ads and word of mouth to lure at least 7...
TD Bank assisted in Ponzi scheme, $100M lawsuit claims
A lawsuit claims numerous red flags were ignored, such as the movement of some $500 million through lawyer Scott Rothstein accounts at a TD Bank branch in Fort Lauderdale in October alone. By Associated Press November 20, 2009, 3:54 PM EST Investors claiming they were fleeced by a high-profile South Florida attorney filed a $100 million lawsuit Friday contending that the lawyer orchestrated a massive Ponzi scheme with the help of a Canadian bank's U.S. subsidiary and several accomplices. The 147-page lawsuit, filed...
Financial adviser admits to $9M sham that funded his gambling and international travel
By Associated Press November 18, 2009, 10:58 AM EST A New Jersey-based financial adviser has admitted operating a scheme that defrauded investors of more than $9 million. Sixty-nine-year-old Maxwell Smith of Fair Haven pleaded guilty Tuesday to a five-count criminal information charging him with mail fraud. Smith will remain free on bail pending sentencing on Feb. 26. He faces up to 20 years in prison per count and a $250,000 fine, although the actual sentence could be far less under federal sentencing guidelines. ...
Ex-NFL linebacker gets prison for part in Ponzi scheme
By Associated Press November 17, 2009, 9:05 AM EST A former University of California lineman who spent time in the Tennessee Titans' camp in 2001 has been sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for his role in a $5 million Ponzi scheme. Reed Diehl was sentenced in Orange County federal court Monday. The 31-year-old was indicted last year following an FBI investigation. He pleaded guilty in July to three counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. He admitted that he cheated investors by promising high ...
Broker Charged In Massive Ponzi Scheme
he Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Michigan stockbroker with fraud, alleging that he lured hundreds of elderly investors into a $250 million Ponzi scheme after convincing many of them to refinance their home mortgages. The SEC alleges that 59-year-old Frank Bluestein, a Detroit-area stockbroker, acted as the single largest salesperson in the Ponzi scheme operated by Edward May and his company, E-M Management Company LLC. The SEC previously filed charges against May and E-M in connection with the fraudu...
Ex-Ameriprise broker charged with bilking clients of $350K to pay his mortgage, travel
By Sue Asci September 29, 2009 A former Ameriprise broker was charged yesterday with stealing nearly $350,000 from six former clients. Shane Selewach, 46, of Hyannis, Mass., pleaded not guilty to charges that he misappropriated funds from investors after being charged in Barnstable (Mass.) District Court. Mr. Selewach allegedly told clients that he would invest their assets in hedge funds or real estate strategies from July 2005 to November 2008, according to the complaint filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Mar...
Two brokers, facing fraud charges and lawsuits over client losses, claim investors knew of risks
By Associated Press October 20, 2009 Two former Nebraska City brokers say they shouldn't be prosecuted for securities fraud because the investors who lost more than $20 million acknowledged the risks in writing, but prosecutors said Monday the records don't tell the full story. Rebecca Engle and Brian Schuster are accused of defrauding more than 130 investors by improperly selling risky investments in several interrelated Florida companies. Both Engle and Schuster face eight state counts of securities fraud and seve...
Finra fined Morgan Stanley $90K for unfair trading practices
Investment News By Sara Hansard October 19, 2009 Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay a $90,000 fine to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. to settle charges that it traded municipal bonds at unfair prices. The fine covered 11 corporate-bond trades and three municipal-securities trades made in 2003. Markups or markdowns listed in Finra's complaint ranged from 5.25% to 24.3%. In addition to paying the fine, Morgan Stanley agreed to make restitutions to investors totaling nearly $41,000. Morgan Stanley agreed ...
Insurance agent slammed with fraud charges, could face up to 60 years
By Associated Press October 12, 2009 A lawyer for a Miami insurance agent says he'll plead not guilty to charges of stealing more than $14 million from premium finance companies. Fifty-two-year-old Jose V. Peris, owner of Insurance Force Corp., is accused of submitting thousands of fraudulent contracts to the companies by listing fictitious policyholders. His lawyer, Joel DeFabio, said Peris remained in jail Friday under a $400,000 bond. He was initially charged with theft last month and arrested again Thursday on o...
Adviser who stole from clients to pay daughter's rent gets up to 30 years in prison
By Associated Press October 7, 2009 A Lansing, Mich.-area investment adviser accused of defrauding investors of hundreds of thousands of dollars has been sentenced to five to 30 years in prison. Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk also ordered Jeffrey Sadlak of Delta Township to pay $487,384 in restitution to his victims. Ms. Draganchuk said during Mr. Sadlak's sentencing hearing, "I think our prison space is very, very well-used with your person being in it, Mr. Sadlak." According to court documents, the ...
Carnahan Stops Broker’s Fraudulent Scheme
Investor Funds Were Used to Pay for Mortgage, Plastic Surgery: Jefferson City, MO – Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s Office today shut down a scheme run by J. Scott Schlueter of St. Louis, who allegedly sold unregistered investments and used the nearly $325,000 he collected from investors to pay personal expenses. Schlueter, who was indicted on criminal charges in Illinois last month, established Legacy Financial Assurance Group Inc. in Missouri to sell and develop wealth retention products and services. Beginni...
Former Merrill Lynch Employee, Guilty of $1.4 Million Texas Securities Fraud Scheme, Receives Prison Term
A judge has ordered a former Merrill Lynch employee, San Antonio stockbroker Bruce E. Hammonds, to serve almost five years in prison and three years supervised release for Texas securities fraud. Bruce E. Hammonds also must pay $1.1 million in restitution to the Merrill Lynch investors he defrauded and almost $60,000 to two clients that he continued to defraud after the broker-dealer fired him in June 2008. Hammonds reportedly did not deny the alleged fraud when Merrill Lynch confronted him about his activities. The b...
Fee-Only Pioneer Zabalaoui Sentenced To 8 Years
FA Magazine - August 06, 2009 Fee-Only Pioneer Zabalaoui Sentenced To 8 Years During an emotional court case yesterday, a federal judge sentenced 71-year-old former planner Judith Zabalaoui to 97 months in prison for using a Ponzi scheme to embezzle millions from clients in the New Orleans area. Citing the severity of the offenses, Federal District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon also ordered Zabalaoui to pay $3,255,000 in restitution and a $100,000 fine. Zabalaoui also will be under federal supervision for three years ...
SEC charges former GunnAllen and Questar broker with fraud in $250M Ponzi scheme
Frank Bluestein ‘lured elderly investors into refinancing the mortgages on their homes,' regulator alleges By Bruce Kelly and Sara Hansard September 28, 2009 The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Frank Bluestein with fraud for allegedly being the single largest salesperson in a $250 million Ponzi scheme that collapsed in August 2007. According to the SEC's complaint, from 2002 to 2007 Mr. Bluestein was responsible for soliciting about 800 investors who invested $74 million into the scheme, which a...
Ex-Ameriprise broker charged with bilking clients of $350K to pay his mortgage, travel
Also accused of failing to tell clients he was not registered to sell securities By Sue Asci September 29, 2009 A former Ameriprise broker was charged yesterday with stealing nearly $350,000 from six former clients. Shane Selewach, 46, of Hyannis, Mass., pleaded not guilty to charges that he misappropriated funds from investors after being charged in Barnstable (Mass.) District Court. Mr. Selewach allegedly told clients that he would invest their assets in hedge funds or real estate strategies from July 2005 to Nove...
Broker Charged In Massive Ponzi Scheme
Financial Advisor Magazine The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Michigan stockbroker with fraud, alleging that he lured hundreds of elderly investors into a $250 million Ponzi scheme after convincing many of them to refinance their home mortgages. The SEC alleges that 59-year-old Frank Bluestein, a Detroit-area stockbroker, acted as the single largest salesperson in the Ponzi scheme operated by Edward May and his company, E-M Management Company LLC. The SEC previously filed charges against May and E-M ...
Geithner Urges Passage of Financial Reform
By JACK HEALY, New York Times Published: September 23, 2009 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner urged Congress on Wednesday to adopt the Obama administration’s proposals to overhaul financial regulations, warning that the system was still fraught with the same problems that helped to create last year’s crisis. “The flaws in our financial system and regulatory framework that allowed this crisis to occur, and in many ways helped cause it, are still in place,” Mr. Geithner said in prepared remarks to the Hous...
State shuts down two Kalispell firms, alleges Ponzi scheme bilked investors of $1.5 million
KALISPELL - A Kalispell financial adviser could face fines totaling millions of dollars, with state regulators alleging he duped investors out of at least $1.5 million in a Ponzi scheme. Donald Chouinard - who worked for LPL Financial Corp. and operated both DC Wealth Management and DC Associates - has 15 days to request a state hearing on the matter. He did not return calls on Friday. Lynne Egan, deputy commissioner for securities in Montana, called Chouinard's dealings "extremely egregious," adding that she doubted ...
Former Merrill rep stripped of insurance license and fined in funeral trust case
State said the agent violated insurable-interest laws and failed to serve the interests of customers By Darla Mercado September 16, 2009 The Illinois Department of Insurance today stripped a producer of his insurance license and slapped him with a fine due to his involvement in a deflated trust that was intended to cover consumers' final expenses. The agent, Edward L. Schainker, was slapped with the punishment after the state found that he had violated insurable interest laws and had failed to serve the interests of...
FINRA Bars Ex-Morgan Stanley Rep For Bilking Elderly 97 Yr Old
John Edward Mullins and wife allegedly drained their client’s trust while she was in a nursing home By Sue Asci September 15, 2009 A former Morgan Stanley broker was barred today by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. for allegedly misappropriating $11,156.47 from the charitable foundation of a 97-year-old nursing home resident who was his client for more than 20 years. John Edward Mullins allegedly began to misuse the funds of his client, Esther Weil, after she became ill in April 2006 and needed 24-...
Merrill adviser indicted for cheating clients out of $500K
A financial adviser in New Jersey has been indicted on charges that he stole more than $500,000 from clients. Stephen Severio of Fair Haven was charged with theft by deception and related offenses in an indictment handed up Thursday by a Monmouth County grand jury. Prosecutors say Severio stole the money while working at Merrill Lynch's office in Red Bank. Severio allegedly persuaded 26 investors to withdraw funds from their Merrill Lynch accounts and reinvest the money through him. Prosecutors say he kept it instead...
NY Life agent denies bilking $2M from seniors
Oren Eugene Sullivan pleaded not guilty of conning 35 investors and depositing their cash into his own bank account By Darla Mercado September 9, 2009 A former New York Life Insurance Co. agent pleaded not guilty in a federal court in South Carolina yesterday following charges that he had swindled 35 investors out of more than $2 million over 13 years. Facing a seven-count fraud indictment, Oren Eugene Sullivan of Rock Hill, S.C., yesterday signed a document stating that he wasn't guilty of the charges, and was rele...
Insurance Agent Robert Rister Steals $550,300 From Clients
Insurance agent gets up to five years for running a Ponzi scheme Robert Rister stole $550,300 from his clients by pretending to reinvest liquidated holdings By Darla Mercado September 4, 2009 A South Shore, Ky.-based insurance agent this week was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay almost $400,000 in fines for swindling clients in a Ponzi scheme that involved annuities. Between August 2003 and June 2008, Robert W. Rister, an independent insurance agent at Rister Insurance and Financial Services, sto...
Insurance agent gets up to five years for running a Ponzi scheme
Robert Rister stole $550,300 from his clients by pretending to reinvest liquidated holdings By Darla Mercado September 4, 2009 A South Shore, Ky.-based insurance agent this week was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay almost $400,000 in fines for swindling clients in a Ponzi scheme that involved annuities. Between August 2003 and June 2008, Robert W. Rister, an independent insurance agent at Rister Insurance and Financial Services, stole $550,300 by convincing some of his annuity and insurance clien...
False prophet, false profits? - Pat Kiley told listeners to a Christian radio network he could protect their wealth. Now investors fear they're out millions.
Pat Kiley called his worldwide radio audience "Truth Seekers," and in weekly hour-long broadcasts recorded from his Burnsville home, he warned about a coming financial Armageddon that would impoverish anyone who didn't entrust him and his business partners with their money. Hundreds of listeners turned over much of their life savings to Kiley and his associates. His pitch, carried on more than 200 stations nationwide, including KSTP Radio (1500 AM), and on the Worldwide Christian Radio network, drew in retirees, postal...
Vick's ex-adviser charged in Ponzi scheme
By Associated Press August 25, 2009, 9:13 AM EST Federal prosecutors have charged a woman who once advised Michael Vick and several other NFL players with stealing $3 million from eight victims in a Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors say Mary Wong worked out of her Omaha home and purported to sell investments in luxury properties in Arizona, Tennessee and Michigan along with private jets and other investments. But according to the indictment unsealed Monday, Wong used the money she raised to support her other businesses and a...
Rock Hill man charged in Ponzi Scheme
ROCK HILL, S.C. -- A Rock Hill insurance agent is accused of a Ponzi scheme, swindling millions from unsuspecting investors. His daughter, who asked not to reveal her name, tells NewsChannel 36 it's all just a miscommunication. Her parents' $400,000 Rock Hill home is up for sale, their things in boxes. Oren Sullivan's daughter says the charges he faces are a mistake. "I know his character, I know it's a miscommunication, and there is no doubting on our parts that dad didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to," sh...
Banks Fined For Variable Annuity Sales
By Dorothy Hinchcliff The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined five bank broker-dealers a total of $1.65 million for deficient supervision and procedures related to variable annuity (VA), mutual fund or unit investment trust (UIT) transactions. Brokers at each of the firms operated out of branches of affiliated banks, selling VAs, mutual funds or UITs to bank customers, who, in many instances, were elderly. The brokerage customers were referred by bank personnel, and sales of these financial p...
AXA Advisors to Pay $50,000 In Settlement To Retirement Fund Fraud
By Sara Hansard August 13, 2009 The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday filed an administrative proceeding against Axa Advisors LLC < http://sec.gov/litigation/admin/2009/34-60480.pdf> for failing to supervise a former registered representative who pleaded guilty to securities fraud in January 2008. New York-based Axa Advisors offered to pay a $50,000 settlement — without admitting to or denying the SEC's allegations. The SEC will accept the settlement offer, according to the administrative proceeding. Ax...
Adviser who stole identity of dead baby pleads guilty to fraud
A former financial adviser and registered representative who reportedly hid his criminal past by using a dead infant's identity pleaded guilty today to several fraud charges. Joseph Bonanno of Canton, Ohio, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Ohio to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, two counts of making a false statement and one count of making a false statement in an application for a U.S. passport. He had been indicted in April on charges of assuming the identity of Timothy W...
St. Louis Missouri Broker Banned From Securities Sales
Securities industry regulators say a St. Peters stockbroker ran an eight-year ponzi scheme in which he swindled brokerage customers, fellow church members and a cousin in order to support a "lavish personal lifestyle" and $4,000-per-month entertainment bills. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Monday that broker Kenneth George Neely took $600,000 from at least 25 victims, claiming he would invest it in a fictitious investment club and a nonexistent real estate investment trust. Without admitti...
St. Peters broker banned for ponzi scheme
By Jim Gallagher ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Securities industry regulators say a St. Peters stockbroker ran an eight-year ponzi scheme in which he swindled brokerage customers, fellow church members and a cousin in order to support a "lavish personal lifestyle" and $4,000-per-month entertainment bills. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Monday that broker Kenneth George Neely took $600,000 from at least 25 victims, claiming he would invest it in a fictitious investment club and a nonexistent real esta...
SEC Charges Pang With Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that financier Danny Pang defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars and obtained a temporary order freezing his assets. As part of the SEC's civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez froze the assets of Mr. Pang and the Irvine, Calif., businesses he ran, Private Equity Management Group Inc. and Private Equity Management Group LLC. The judge also appointed a receiver, Robert P. Mosier, to safeguard the existing as...
Owner of securities firm here is sent to prison
By Heather Ratcliffe ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH The owner of a securities firm in St. Louis was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six years in prison for defrauding investors of more than $4.5 million. Scott Luster, 53, president and owner of Rate Search Inc., pleaded guilty in February in federal court in St. Louis of mail fraud and a tax charge, acknowledging that he used customer money for personal and business expenses. Rate Search, which had offices in several locations near Forest Park, including the Chase Park Plaza,...
Pang Steps Aside at Firm as U.S. Launches Probe
By MARK MAREMONT and JOHN R. EMSHWILLER California money manager Danny Pang temporarily stepped aside at his investment firm, which says it runs assets worth $4 billion, as federal civil and criminal officials began to look into allegations of impropriety. In the civil inquiry, an attorney for a former president of Mr. Pang's firm -- Private Equity Management Group Inc. -- said he has been contacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission's Los Angeles office. The lawyer, Jeffrey Benice, said he will meet with the ag...
BREAKING NEWS
Missouri considers revoking Coleman’s securities license
St. Louis Business Journal by Kelsey Volkmann St. Louis investment adviser Stephen Coleman is slated to appear for a hearing before the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission on Thursday to determine whether his securities license should be revoked. Coleman, who operates Daedalus Capital and the now-defunct Chicken Little Fund Group, has been under investigation by Missouri Commissioner of Securities Matthew Kitzi for alleged securities fraud after investors complained Coleman misled them. That investigation foun...
St. Charles Man Ordered to Stop Selling Investments
St. Louis Business Journal The Missouri secretary of state’s office has ordered a St. Charles County man to stop the sale of unregistered investments in life insurance policies. James Staley is accused of offering and selling unregistered investments in life insurance policies through Wealth Financial International, a Chesterfield company he organized, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s office said Monday. Staley allegedly told investors their money would be used to pay the premium on a wealthy person...
Investors Face Tough Duel When Fighting Brokers
As my Aunt Betty once told me, it's only when the rinse cycle begins that you see how dirty the laundry really was. With the market still off more than 40% from its peak in 2007, investors are examining how their portfolios ended up so filthy -- and blaming brokers. Through March 31, investors filed 1,264 arbitration cases with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, up 114% from the year-earlier period. Many will walk away disappointed. If your broker has lost your money, it may not really be lost. I...
What do you need most from your advisor now?
By Senior Market Advisor | Published April 1, 2009 From the April 2009 Issue of Senior Market Advisor Magazine Trust. The market is so scary right now. It’s scary to even think about money and where it’s going. I saw that Madoff story on the nightly news and it’s so scary. You don’t know who to trust. And there’s so many out there that want your money. I need somebody to trust. Dawn C., 74 Oklahoma City, Okla. I want guidance. My wife and I have a real good advisor we’ve known for years and he’s been ...
Due diligence? Get serious
By Steven McCarty | Published April 1, 2009 From the April 2009 Issue of Senior Market Advisor Magazine Last month, I discussed how due diligence went past due in our business … with devastating results. This month, I’d like to talk about the resurgence of due diligence—and what it all means. Clearly, the lack of due diligence has affected your clients both objectively and subjectively. Objectively, many have lost tremendous wealth due to the economic meltdown that resulted in part from bad due diligence. Subj...
BREAKING NEWS
Beware of Your Broker
Emily Lambert, 03.25.09, 06:00 PM EDT Forbes Magazine dated April 13, 2009 You'd think investors would be leery of brokers with sketchy histories. Think again. Bambi Holzer has done a masterful job burnishing her reputation as a trusted financial expert. The 50-year-old broker has appeared on the Today show and NBC Nightly News. Her fourth book, Financial Bliss, hit stores two years ago, and in 2008 USA Today turned to her to dispense financial advice to couples. In her Beverly Hills, Calif. office just off Rodeo Dri...
Baird wins $1.4M from Morgan Stanley, ex-broker
By Bruce Kelly Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. has won a $1.43 million arbitration award against Morgan Stanley and a former Baird broker. Milwaukee-based Baird alleged that three brokers “abruptly left their positions” with the firm and “delivered client records to their new employer, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, for use in solicitation of [Baird’s clients],” according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. arbitration award. While New York-based Morgan Stanley denied the charges in the claim, a t...
Graft and gratitude
By Harry Lew | Published February 26, 2009 From Senior Market Advisor News Desk A Connecticut insurance agent has pleaded guilty to embezzlement after plundering her employer’s checking account to pay for personal expenses. The agent is expected to receive three years in prison and five years of probation. The woman had only a 10th-grade education, but was hired by the agency owner when she was 18. With the owner’s mentoring, she became a licensed insurance agent. She repaid him by stealing $130,000 from the agen...
University of Fake Degrees
Proposed Senate bill would ban use of phony credentials obtained from online degree mills Ben Gemignani A new bill currently before the Missouri Legislature, SB182, introduced by Senator Matt Bartle (R-Jackson County), would, according to a press release from the Missouri Department of Higher Education, "prohibit the use of false or misleading documents to obtain employment or a college admission in Missouri." "How would you like to learn that your kid's teacher didn't graduate from college? Or that your doctor has a b...
Can you trust your financial advisor?
By Steve Wartenberg THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Pat Huddleston understands how the mind of a con artist works. "The scam artist understands human nature and preys upon it," said Huddleston, a former official with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission who now runs Investor's Watchdog in Atlanta. "They know the route around every roadblock and how to get around it." In times like these, with 401(k) investments shrinking and money troubles around every corner, consumers often seek the advice of financial advisers. But...
Feds investigate Stephen Coleman
By Kelsey Volkmann--St. Louis Business Journal The U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are the latest to investigate St. Louis investment adviser Stephen Coleman of Daedalus Capital for alleged fraud. Coleman has been under investigation by Missouri Commissioner of Securities Matthew Kitzi for alleged securities fraud after investors complained Coleman misled them. That investigation found that Coleman offered unregistered securities and committed securities fraud. As a result, Coleman and h...
Playing by the rules
By David Port | Published February 1, 2009 From the February 2009 Issue of Senior Market Advisor Magazine To play by the rules, you have to know the rules. For many advisors, that means becoming familiar with such imposing documents as the FINRA Manual, a sprawling and still-growing amalgamation of legalese (posted online at finra.complinet.com) that at last count included close to 1,400 pages of rules from FINRA, the NASD and the NYSE. And that's excluding hundreds of additional pages containing recently approved ru...
Indiana Advisor Faces Federal Charges
On Wednesday, federal officials in Florida also charged Mr. Schrenker with faking a distress call from an aircraft and intentionally crashing a plane. View Full Image Associated Press U.S. Marshals found Marcus Schrenker in a tent Tuesday at this KOA campground in Chattahoochee, Fla., and took him into custody. Mr. Schrenker couldn't be reached for a comment on Wednesday. It's been an eventful week for Mr. Schrenker, 38 years old. U.S. marshals allege that he staged a crash in one of his private planes Sunday, then p...
Don't Blame The SEC
By Allan Sloan, FORTUNE Magazine--senior editor at large January 5, 2009: 6:14 AM ET NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Yes, there really are times when life imitates art. A case in point: the Bernie Madoff scandal, in which the disgraced investor bears a startling resemblance to Zero Mostel's sleazy theater promoter in one of my favorite flicks, "The Producers." http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/05/magazines/fortune/sloan_madoff.fortune/index.htm
What are the best and worst attributes you look for (or look to avoid) in an advisor?
Published January 1, 2009 From the January 2009 Issue of Senior Market Advisor Magazine For me, it's honesty. I want a straight shooter. I have been burned in some investment opportunities over the years, so I put my top priority in an advisor as being somebody I have faith to do right by me. As you can guess, dishonesty is the worst attribute." - David R., 68 Memphis, Tenn. My advisor is very, very professional and well prepared. He is also good at making a personal relationship with me and my husband. I don't li...
Like a Bad Neighbor
Carrie Coolidge-FORBES Insurance agents who steal from clients can go undetected for years. Jeanne and Anthony Trotta were in their 80s when they bought $150,000 worth of annuities in 1998 from Michael Minnehan, an insurance agent in their hometown of Milford, Mass. Minnehan told them the annuities would do better than a savings account. They might have, if the money hadn't been stolen. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/1208/152.html
Problems in purging CRD records
By Senior Market Advisor | Published October 1, 2008 From the October 2008 Issue of Senior Market Advisor Magazine Following a recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, financial advisors will continue to find it difficult to purge their Central Registration Depository (CRD) records of consumer complaint information following a settlement agreement. This makes it all the more important for advisors to prevent complaints in the first place. In its Karsner v. Lothian ruling, the appeals court reversed a lower court decisio...
How to get top-notch testimonials
By Senior Market Advisor | Published September 1, 2008 From the September 2008 Issue of Senior Market Advisor Magazine There’s a reason Ron Tuchin devotes an entire page of his firm’s Web site to client testimonials. Among the various marketing tools advisors use to promote their practices and their expertise, he says, testimonials- whether they come from individual clients, groups, the media or professional peers - are among the most powerful and resonant. "Specifically in the financial arena more ...
Picking the Right Planner
Kathleen Day Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, August 27, 2006 Working single mom Kathy A. Gambrell has had no problem finding a lawyer to write her will or a certified public accountant to prepare her taxes -- professionals she found by asking friends and family for recommendations. But a four-year quest to find a financial planner has left the editor of the District-based CongressDaily baffled, angry and, worst of all, unenlightened on how to find someone good to help her manage her money. Three weeks ago, she fi...
Copyright © 2009 AdvisorCheck Inc. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions - Browse For Advisor - Contact Us