Last month, we noted that GWG L-Bond investors had already lost most of their money. In October 2023, the status of GWG-L Bond investments has continued to decline. As we noted in our previous blog post, GWG’s bankruptcy allowed the company to re-structure the debts it owed to L-Bond holders. As a result, L-Bond investors…
Continue reading ›FINRA (The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.) has been penalizing broker-dealers for their involvement in selling high-risk GPB private placements, which were limited partnerships investing in income-producing businesses. GPB raised $1.8 billion from retail investors, but their failure to file required financial statements with the SEC led to problems. Now, FINRA is increasingly focusing on…
Continue reading ›FINRA’s Secret Agreement To Rig Arbitrator Selection In 2022, a Georgia court issued a bombshell opinion that found that FINRA had made an illegal secret agreement with a lawyer, Terri Weiss, who represented brokerage firms in FINRA arbitrations. Specifically, FINRA told Weiss that it would make sure certain arbitrators that had served on one of…
Continue reading ›On July 20, 2023, Robert Spencer Gerstein, based in Boca Raton, Florida, was subject to an AWC (Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent) by FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority). As part of this agreement, Gerstein faced several sanctions: The allegations against Gerstein revolved around his engagement in short-term trading of securities that were meant to be held…
Continue reading ›On July 17, 2023, Daniel M. King of Venice, California, was issued an AWC (Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent) by FINRA. In this disciplinary action, King was fined $10,000, suspended from associating with any FINRA member for two months, and ordered to pay $33,374.31 plus interest in restitution to a customer. This restitution is related to…
Continue reading ›On July 7, 2023, FINRA issued an AWC (Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent) sanctioning American Trust Investment Services’ broker John James Hoidas. Hoidas was assessed a deferred fine of $40,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in all capacities for 18 months. He did not admit or deny the findings but consented to the…
Continue reading ›On July 7, 2023, an AWC (Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent) was issued against Laidlaw broker Christopher Harrington, resulting in a deferred fine of $11,500 and a suspension from being a broker for nine months. Harrington consented to these sanctions without admitting or denying the findings, which revealed that he engaged in misconduct that harmed a…
Continue reading ›Litigation Funding Is Criticized Because Of Predatory Practices CBS News aired a 60-minutes segment titled “Litigation Funding: a multibillion-dollar industry for investments in lawsuits with little oversight.” As the segment explained, “litigation funding” is the practice of funding someone’s lawsuit in return for the right to collect a portion of the money that person recovers…
Continue reading ›Banks Law Office represents more than 40 individuals who allege that Fitbit has failed to pay them for Fitbit Ionic smartwatches they submitted to the Fitbit Ionics recall. If Fitbit has refused to pay you for Ionics that you submitted to the recall, please contact Banks Law Office today. On March 2, 2022, Fitbit and…
Continue reading ›The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is an organization dedicated to investor protection and market integrity. On May 12th, 2023 FINRA announced that SW Financial had been expelled from its membership for multiple violations. The violations include making misrepresentations to customers about its sales of private placement offerings of pre-initial public offering (pre-IPO) securities, churning customer accounts,…
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