ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER

FINRA Arbitration Shuts Down Broker

Material Misrepresentations

Oftentimes, individuals who invest their money also invest their trust. When they hand over their money, they assume that their broker or financial advisor is going to make decisions that will benefit the investor: personally, financially, and beyond. But what happens when the broker/financial advisor breaks that trust and begins putting the client and her money into things that, frankly, don’t make sense? Most likely any action against the broker or financial advisor will have to start in arbitration before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Check your account agreement; there’s very likely a clause requiring you to bring your complaint before a FINRA arbitration.

Fraud

FINRA arbitrations are alternatives to normal courtroom litigation. The rules are tricky and the timelines short. The broker is sure to be represented by counsel; the aggrieved client should be too. Even then, the injured client doesn’t always win. In a recent example the client, however, did prevail, in a big way. In the case, Bennett Group Financial Services took a client’s money and invested it in a SPDR Gold Shares exchange traded fund. This is a high-risk investment and very volatile fund. The investor had no experience in currency or commodity trading and really did not understand how the fund worked or hoe unsuitable it was. The broker answered any anxieties the client did have with misrepresentations.

The Outcome

Thanks to FINRA arbitration, the financial advisor was forced to pay $1 million for the bad investment, along with attorney’s fees and witness fees, which themselves totaled to around $275,000. Sadly, in San Francisco, California, and beyond, securities fraud, similar to this case, happens daily, and almost always the victim is the everyday, inexperienced consumer. At Evans Law Firm, we fight to protect those wronged by inappropriate and unsuitable investments in courts or FINRA arbitrations.

Contact Us

If you or a loved one has been a victim of any kind of securities fraud or is headed to a FINRA arbitration in San Francisco County or in any California county, contact the Evans Law Firm elder attorneys at (415) 441-8669, or by email at info@evanslaw.com. Our attorneys have experience with securities and financial fraud, complex financial contracts and large insurance companies. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.