Securities Fraud Attorneys Blog
According to his recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Todd Kimm, a former broker with Merrill Lynch, allegedly engaged in unsuitable short-term trading in a customer’s account with respect to closed-end funds and mutual funds. He also allegedly recommended over 100 unsuitable short-term trades of long-term investment products and eight unsuitable mutual fund switches in the same customer account. During the time period of July 2010 through July 2013, Kimm allegedly exercised discretion without written authorization in the same customer account. These are all against securities laws. For this misconduct, FINRA fined him $5,000 and suspended him from the industry for six months.
According to his online, FINRA BrokerCheck report, Mr. Kimm was previously registered with Merrill Lynch in Syracuse, New York from November 1996 until September 2014 and Commonwealth Financial Network in Syracuse from September 2014 until December 2017. He has two customer disputes against him that allege unsuitable investment recommendations, unauthorized trading, unsuitable variable annuity recommendations and sales and excessive trading. He is not currently registered as a broker. Excessive trading is also referred to as “churning,” and is when a broker trades in and out of securities daily, sometimes the same security. It is a particularly egregious misconduct because it typically results in large commissions for the broker, but unnecessary fees for the client. Merrill Lynch can be held liable in the FINRA arbitration forum on a contingency fee basis if it does not reasonably supervise its brokers like Todd Kimm.
According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Jermaine Joseph violated securities laws and PFS Investments firm policies. Allegedly, from June 2015 until March 2016, Mr. Joseph comingled more than $30,000 worth of customer funds with his own funds by depositing a check from the customer into an account he controlled. In April 2016, he also allegedly made false statements to PFS in connection with the firm’s investigation into him. In January 2014, he submitted a false compliance attestation to PFS in which he attested that he had no outside securities accounts. For this, he was barred from the industry. According to his FINRA BrokerCheck report, Mr. Joseph was registered with PFS Investments in Hialeah Gardens, Florida from April 2013 until February 2015, and PFS Investments in Hialeah Gardens from June 2015 until May 2016, and is not currently registered as a broker.
According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Jaime Aguilar allegedly borrowed funds totaling $22,100 from two customers without disclosing the loans to the firm. He also falsely stated in an annual compliance questionnaire that he had not borrowed money from customers in the past 24 months at Morgan Stanley, when, in fact, he had. For this, he was issued a $5,000 fine and suspended from associating with any FINRA member in any capacity for 45 days. Aguilar was associated with Citigroup in San Diego, California from September 1998 until June 2009 and Morgan Stanley in San Diego from June 2009 until June 2016. He has three customer disputes against him alleging engaging in an inappropriate and unsuitable investment strategy as well as liquidating and transferring funds without authorization, misrepresentations and investing in unsuitable securities and mutual fund purchases without authorization. All of these are against securities rules and Morgan Stanley can be sued in the FINRA arbitration forum for failing to properly supervise Aguilar. We are Chicago-based securities attorneys who may be able to help you bring a claim against the firm on a contingency fee basis.
