Cynk is a social network company that has no revenue, no assets, and no profits. Until last week, it was the hottest stock on Wall Street, according to a Business Insider report by Hunter Walker and Julia La Roche (July 14, 2014). Its stock rose to $21 per share on July 10th, which gave the […]
Former LPL Broker Jason Parker Leaves Trail Of Complaints
By law, a broker has to recommend suitable investments. To be considered suitable, an investment should align with the client’s investment objectives. Dumping all client funds into a single foreign stock, despite the client’s low tolerance for risk, could be considered unsuitable. As indicated by the complaints reported in FINRA’s BrokerCheck, a former broker at […]
Pension Advisers Fall Under Scrutiny
The problem of conflicts of interest for pension advisers attracted Congressional attention, according to a Wall Street Journal article by Dan Fitzpatrick (June 9, 2014). U.S. Representative George Miller (D., Calif.) has written a letter to the Labor Department that asks the Department to examine the conflicts of interest in the pension advising industry. The […]
Zuckerberg, Facebook Directors Sued Over Excessive Pay
Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of Facebook’s board are facing a derivative suit that alleges the company is paying its directors too much, according to a Reuters report written by Johnathan Stempel (June 9, 2014). Facebook shareholder Ernesto Espinoza filed a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court that said that the $461,000 paid on average to […]
FINRA’s BrokerCheck Full Of Holes
FINRA’s system for revealing red flags about brokers may not disclose all the information that it is supposed to, according to a Wall Street Journal article by Jean Eaglesham and Rob Barry (March 7, 2014). A report by FINRA’s BrokerCheck should include information about felony charges and convictions, personal bankruptcy petitions filed within 10 years, […]
SEC Charges Former LPL Advisor With Fraud
On May 23, 2013, the SEC charged a former LPL Financial LLC advisor, Blake Richards, with fraud and misappropriating $2 million from at least six clients. The SEC filed the civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. According to an article by Bruce Kelly in Investment News, “when investors […]
Wells Fargo Settles Medical Capital Class Action for $105 Million
InvestmentNews reports that Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $105 million in a class action lawsuit brought by investors who purchased Medical Capital notes. The notes turned out to be a fraudulent medical receivables scheme. The note holders alleged that Well Fargo, one of two trustee banks in the scheme, failed to protect […]
Brokerage Firm ‘Shoots First and Asks Questions Later’
When a securities brokerage firm sues to collect the balance due under a promissory note from one of its brokers, the securities industry often views the case as close as one can get to a “slam dunk” case for the firm. When UBS Financial Services sued former brokers James Kirwin and Joanne Meninger for amounts […]