Month: February 2018

Hanley Law Investigates Jeffrey Palish Ex-Wells Fargo Rep Barred for Stealing from Elderly

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) Jeffrey Palish has been barred from the industry for receiving more than $180,000 from an elderly client “with no intent or ability to repay” her. Wells Fargo terminated Mr. Palish’s registration in November 2017 according the FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC 2917056152891).

It has been reported that Mr. Palish, who was a resident of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., was arrested by detectives from the Bergen County’s prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor’s office allegedly received information in November that Mr. Parish was believed to have stolen at least $600,000 from elderly clients over four years, and that he had not made payments on a $100,000 loan he received from two clients.  According to FINRA, starting in or around 2015, while registered with Wells Fargo, Palish received money from an elderly Wells customer for his personal use and he accepted the money with no intent or ability to repay the customer.  Over approximately three years, Palish allegedly received more than $180,000 from the client.  As a result, FINRA found that Palish converted customer funds, in violation of FINRA Rules 2150 and 2010.

Palish entered the securities industry in 1986 when he became registered as a General Securities Representative.  Mr. Palish began his securities career in 1986 at McLaughlin, Piven, Vogel Securities and moved to UBS PaineWebber in 1993.  He joined Morgan Stanley in 2002 and Wells Fargo in 2010. Wells Fargo terminated Palish’s registration in November 2017 because Wells Fargo learned that Palish had accepted money from an elderly customer and that he had made misstatements to the firm regarding those transactions.

HANLEY LAW

Hanley law represents individual investors nationwide with significant losses in their portfolios, retirement plans or investment accounts.  The firm is dedicated to assisting investors to recover losses suffered by unsuitability, over-concentration, fraud, misrepresentation, self-dealing, unauthorized trades or other wrongful acts, whether intentional or negligent.  The firm handles cases against the major Wall Street broker dealers, including Wells Fargo.

Let Hanley Law work for you. Call (239) 649-0050 or contact the firm through our Website to arrange a free confidential consultation with an attorney to discuss your experiences with your stock broker which resulted in investment losses.

Hanley Law Investigates Pennsylvania broker Austin Dutton Formerly Registered with Newbridge Securities and Associated with Bridge Valley Financial Services

According to FINRA’s Brokercheck, Austin Dutton was registered with Newbridge Securities from August 2007 to August 2017.  In July 2017, the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities fined Austin Dutton $200,000 for dishonest or unethical practices in the securities business.   Furthermore, in July 2017 the state of Pennsylvania fined Newbridge Securities $499,000 for failing to supervise a broker with sales of structured products to clients within the state.

According to Investment News, Mr. Dutton was well known in the Philadelphia area as a leading seller of REITs managed by American Realty Capital.  American Realty Capital is a real estate investment company controlled by Nicholas Schorsch.  Hanley Law is investigating whether clients may have also bought REITs sponsored by United Development Funding.  United Development Funding had its offices raided by the FBI two years ago after a hedge fund alleged it was operating like a Ponzi scheme.  Austin Dutton was affiliated with Bridge Valley Financial Services.

Dutton entered the securities industry in 1996.  He was registered with seven firms, including Newbridge Securities Corporation which he joined in August 2007.  According to FINRA’s Brokercheck, Austin Dutton was registered with the securities industry for 21 years, and was registered with the following firm(s):

Sandlapper Securities, LLC
CRD# 137906
Greenville, SC
09/2017-Present

Center Street Securities, Inc.
CRD# 26898
Nashville, TN
07/2017- Present

Newbridge Securities Corporation
CRD# 104065
Furlong, PA
08/2007-07/2017

Boenning & Scattergood, Inc.
CRD# 100
Langhorne, PA
01/2002-08/2007

Ferris, Baker Watts Incorporated
CRD# 285
Baltimore, MD
06/2000-01/2002

A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.
CRD# 4
St. Louis, MO
12/1997-07/2000

Prudential Securities Incorporated
CRD# 7471
New York, NY
06/1996-11/1997

HANLEY LAW

Hanley law represents individual investors nationwide with significant losses in their portfolios, retirement plans or investment accounts.  Hanley Law is dedicated to assisting investors to recover losses suffered by unsuitability, over-concentration, fraud, misrepresentation, self-dealing, unauthorized trades or other wrongful acts, whether intentional or negligent.  Hanley Law represents clients nationwide in cases against the major Wall Street broker dealers, including Newbridge Securities Corporation.

If you have suffered investment losses as a result of your broker’s or brokerage firm’s misconduct, contact Hanley Law to discuss your legal options. Contact Hanley Law at (239)649-0050 or contact us through our Website to arrange a free confidential consultation with an attorney to discuss your experiences with your stock broker which resulted in investment losses.

FINRA Sanctions Morgan Stanley $13 Million in Fines and Restitution for Failing to Supervise Sales of Unit Investment Trusts (“UIT’s”)

FINRA has fined Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC $3.25 million and required the firm to pay approximately $9.78 million in restitution to more than 3,000 affected customers for failing to supervise its representatives’ short-term trades of unit investment trusts (UITs).

A Unit Investment Trust (“UIT”) is an investment company that offers units in a portfolio of securities that terminates on a specific maturity date, often after 15 or 24 months. UITs impose a variety of charges, including a deferred sales charge and a creation and development fee, that can total approximately 3.95 percent for a typical 24-month UIT. A registered representative who repeatedly recommends that a customer sell his or her UIT position before the maturity date and then “rolls over” those funds into a new UIT causes the customer to incur increased sale charges over time, raising suitability concerns according to FINRA.

FINRA found that from January 2012 through June 2015, hundreds of Morgan Stanley representatives executed short-term UIT rollovers, including UITs rolled over more than 100 days before maturity, in thousands of customer accounts. FINRA further found that Morgan Stanley failed to adequately supervise representatives’ sales of UITs by providing insufficient guidance to supervisors regarding how they should review UIT transactions to detect unsuitable short-term trading, failing to implement an adequate system to detect short-term UIT rollovers, and failing to provide for supervisory review of rollovers prior to execution within the firm’s order entry system. Morgan Stanley also failed to conduct training for registered representatives specific to UITs.

Susan Schroeder, FINRA Executive Vice President and Head of Enforcement, said, “Due to the long-term nature of UITs, their structure, and upfront costs, short-term trading of UITs may be improper and raises suitability concerns. Firms must adequately supervise representatives’ sales of UITs –including providing sufficient training –and have in place a system to detect potentially unsuitable short-term UIT rollovers.”

HANLEY LAW

Hanley law represents individual investors nationwide with significant losses in their portfolios, retirement plans or investment accounts.  The firm is dedicated to assisting investors to recover losses suffered by unsuitability, over-concentration, fraud, misrepresentation, self-dealing, unauthorized trades or other wrongful acts, whether intentional or negligent.  The firm handles cases against the major Wall Street broker dealers, including Morgan Stanley.

Let Hanley Law work for you. Call (239) 649-0050 or contact the firm through our Website to arrange a free confidential consultation with an attorney to discuss your experiences with your stock broker which resulted in investment losses.