UBS and other well-known investment firms are currently making the news for marketing Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES) to its clients as “safe” and “conservative .” While YES was marketed as a safe way for investors to enhance their income stream, YES was anything but safe. Brokers that recommended YES strategies to…
Offering bonuses in the form of employee forgivable loans (EFLs) is common in the financial industry, but these so-called bonuses can result in a trap for unsuspecting brokers (see our website here). While there are a variety of defenses (LINK) available to brokers when a brokerage firm seeks to enforce…
The Texas Securities Act , when applicable, is an extremely powerful tool for any investor seeking to recover an investment and other damages when they have been a victim of fraud or when the Texas Securities Act (TSA) has been technically violated, and this is particularly true when an investor invests…
Today, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) announced in a Disciplinary Order the suspension of Jason Anderson, a broker from Beaumont, Texas formerly working in the last two years with each of LPL, Kovack Securities, IFS Securities, and since March of 2017, was seeking registration as an investment adviser with…
While we sometimes hear our politicians scream about someone’s “chickens coming home to roost,” the origin really deals with curses and offensive words and actions that may come back to haunt you. The old adage suggests your curses and offensive conduct are like young chickens, and will eventually come home…
This week FINRA published a Recovery Checklist for Victims of Investment Fraud and at the risk of being called sensitive, it seems the Checklist seemed to omit, at least on its face, that hiring an attorney may be the most direct route to seeking any compensation that may be due…
As a Texas securities attorney I have been involved in the securities industry over much of the last three decades, and it seems the debate over the fairness of mandatory arbitration before FINRA between customers and firms or brokers has been heated, and near constant. Periods of greater scrutiny seem…
Can I Sue My Stockbroker? Well, yes and no. The question is more appropriately “How do I sue my stockbroker?” or “Where can I sue my stockbroker?” As I will explain shortly, the common denominator to all of these answers is that investors can (and should) seek recovery when their…
Stockbroker Fraud and Investment Fraud: How Is It Discovered? It should go without saying that it is rare that a stockbroker ever confesses to making unsuitable recommendations, illegally recommending private investments away from the firm, churning an account or switching annuities to generate commissions, pushing variable annuities, or telling the…
Might Just Be A Stockbroker’s Selling Away And That Could Mean You Get Your Money Back. We have seen a rise in PONZI schemes since the market dropped, but will they keep going with a strong market? A PONZI scheme is essentially when a con man robs Peter to pay…