News
September 2, 2026
InvestmentNews
In what some plaintiff’s attorneys are calling a sea change for investor protection, a federal judge in July, and then later backed by FINRA, halted almost 100 investor lawsuits against broker-dealers that sold high-risk, high-priced private placements issued by Inspired Healthcare Capital. Inspired Healthcare Capital, which raised more than $1 billion to finance dozens of real estate and senior […]
April 20, 2026
Financial Advisor IQ
Glenn Koch
A court filing indicates that the parties are finalizing a settlement, just weeks after a judge denied Stifel’s bid to overturn the award. Stifel Financial may have managed to save some face — if not a little money — in its yearlong challenge to an arbitration award in the amount of nearly $133 million issued against […]
March 19, 2026
Financial Advisor IQ
Glenn Koch
Advisor Marc Torres claimed that the Finra arbitration panel that decided his case was tainted because one arbitrator failed to disclose a total of 30 liens and judgments against her. An ex-Wells Fargo financial advisor who was ordered to pay the firm more than $2 million in a clawback case has been awarded a do-over […]
March 17, 2026
InvestmentNews
Bruce Kelly
Emerson Equity “was substantively involved” with Inspired Healthcare and the operation of its business and fundraising, according to a court filing. A federal bankruptcy court in Texas on Friday approved an order for Emerson Equity, an independent-contractor broker-dealer in San Mateo, Calif., to hand over documents related to the sale of securities backed by Inspired Healthcare Capital, a defunct assisted living […]
January 29, 2026
AdvisorHub
A broker who spent more than a decade with Merrill Lynch in Atlanta can erase “defamatory” allegations the wirehouse left on her public BrokerCheck record, according to an arbitration award finalized on Tuesday. Merrill had reported that Ava Arjmand, who left in 2019 for Rockefeller Capital Management, resigned after allegations of “conduct involving alteration of […]
September 22, 2025
Financial Advisor IQ
Glenn Koch
The Investor Advisory Committee last week proposed guidelines to safeguard retail investors who dip into private markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee last weeksignaled its willingness to open private market access to all investors — but with an added set of investor-protection guardrails. The committee on Thursday voted to adopt a draft […]
September 4, 2025
Financial Advisor IQ
Glenn Koch
Missouri’s Secretary of State is demanding answers from Finra over its December 2022 halt in trading of meme stock MMTLP, a move that left many investors holding valueless shares after the company went private. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is facing a renewed call for answers regarding its December 2022 decision to halt trading of […]
May 6, 2025
Financial Advisor IQ
Glenn Koch
Recent legal matters have demonstrated the need for financial services firms to create codes of conduct to address romantic relationships between advisors and their clients.
April 16, 2025
Financial Advisor IQ
Glenn Koch
Thousands of LPL customers whose advisors joined from Ameriprise between 2018 and 2020 have received notices from Ameriprise stating that their personal information was impermissibly used by the advisor, LPL says.
March 3, 2025
InvestmentNews
Bruce Kelly
A three-person Finra arbitration last week hammered UBS Financial Services Inc. when it awarded $92.2 million in damages to a group of nine investors who alleged the firm engaged in a high-risk trading strategy linked to a financial advisor shorting shares of Tesla Inc.
January 11, 2025
Bakhtiari & Harrison, a premier law firm focusing on representing parties in securities litigation claims and in the FINRA forum, proudly announces a significant victory in a FINRA expungement case. The firm successfully secured an award recommending the removal of defamatory information from the Claimant’s Central Registration Depository (CRD) record, reaffirming its dedication to defending […]
July 23, 2024
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — Bakhtiari & Harrison is an “AV” rated law firm, focused on the worldwide representation of clients in complex arbitration, litigation, and related legal services in matters involving the securities industry. The firm’s partners have extensive experience in securities, employment and regulatory matters. Our focus is on delivering strategic and creative client-centric […]
July 2, 2024
InvestmentNews
Bruce Kelly
“A broker admitting that he has been ripping off clients for 17 years is beyond troubling,” said one attorney. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. on Monday barred a broker who had been “misappropriating” – meaning taking – client funds for 17 years and was fired from his firm, Western International Securities Inc., just last […]
January 30, 2024
Bakhtiari & Harrison partners Ryan Bakhtiari and David Harrison have been named Super Lawyers in the field of Securities law for 2024. Super Lawyers is a peer nominated list comprised of the top attorneys in their practice area. Mr. Bakhtiari has appeared on the Super Lawyers Securities law list from 2014 to 2024 and 2005 […]
September 28, 2023
InvestmentNews
Bruce Kelly
A Los Angeles-based broker who was a big seller of GWG Holdings bonds is facing a staggering $7.85 million in investor lawsuits as GWG winds its way through bankruptcy proceedings and no one knows what the bonds are worth. The broker, Tony Barouti, is registered with Emerson Equity, the lead seller and underwriter of GWG […]
April 23, 2023
New York Times
Kevin Draper
Four people were arrested Thursday and charged with collectively defrauding four professional men’s basketball players out of more than $13 million, according to Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In one scheme, three players were allegedly persuaded to purchase more than $5 million worth of life insurance policies […]
March 23, 2023
CNBC
Rebecca Picciotto
Former Morgan Stanley advisor Darryl Cohen was arrested on Thursday morning for allegedly defrauding current and former NBA players including Jrue Holiday, Chandler Parsons and Courtney Lee. Cohen is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud, according to federal prosecutors. Each count carries up to a […]
March 23, 2023
MarketWatch
Lukas I. Alpert
It was a deeply personal foul. A former-Morgan Stanley advisor has been charged with stealing $13 million belonging to six current- and former-NBA players who were his clients, and funneling it into his own pockets and those of a financial advisor, an agent and a convicted fraudster. Darryl M. Cohen, 49, of Chatsworth, California, is […]
March 23, 2023
yahoo! finance
Bob Van Voris and Hadriana Lowenkron
A former Morgan Stanley investment adviser and three others were charged with defrauding professional basketball players of $13 million, in the latest alleged scheme targeting pro athletes. Federal prosecutors in New York on Thursday charged the former adviser, Darryl Cohen, along with a financial planner, an NBA agent and a former stockbroker in two schemes […]
March 23, 2023
InvestmentNews
Emile Hallez
A former Morgan Stanley advisor and a financial planner are among several people facing federal charges in connection with four professional athletes, three of them NBA players, allegedly being defrauded of $13 million. The charges, announced Thursday, are in addition to Securities and Exchange Commission charges against the advisor, Darryl Matthew Cohen, who was fired […]
March 23, 2023
Department of Justice U.S. Attorney's Office SDNY
United States of America v. Darryl Cohen, Brian Gilder, Charles Briscoe, and Calvin Darden, Jr. Indictment Four Professional Basketball Players Defrauded of Over $13 Million Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the […]
April 22, 2022
InvestmentNews
Bruce Kelly
Tony Barouti, a Los Angeles-based broker registered with Emerson Equity, is facing multiple investor complaints stemming from the sale of bonds underwritten by GWG Holdings Inc., which declared bankruptcy this week. According to the website for GWG Holdings, Emerson Equity, a San Mateo, California-based broker-dealer that primarily sells private placements, is the managing broker-dealer for […]
February 22, 2022
New York Times
David W. Chen
Around the time that Lauren Holiday helped the United States soccer team win the 2015 Women’s World Cup, she and her husband, Jrue Holiday, the N.B.A. player, visited the Southern California office of a securities broker who had come highly recommended for making prudent long-term investments. Experienced? The broker had two decades with blue-chip firms […]
February 22, 2022
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jim Owczarski
According to a report from the New York Times, Milwaukee Bucks point guard Jrue Holiday and his wife, Lauren have joined two former NBA players in a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley and a former broker for inappropriately distributing money that is now unaccounted for. The Holidays, Chandler Parsons and Courtney Lee allege Morgan Stanley broker Darryl […]
February 21, 2022
InvestmentNews
Mark Schoeff Jr.
A former Morgan Stanley broker likely will defend himself against charges by several pro athletes that he ripped them off by citing investment returns. A current NBA player, his wife and two former NBA players allege that Darryl Matthew Cohen improperly diverted a total of about $10 million from their accounts, according to a recent […]
February 3, 2022
AdvisorHub
Mason Braswell
A once top-producing Morgan Stanley broker in Southern California is facing an industry bar after racking up millions of dollars in client complaints from his former professional athlete customers, including former basketball star Chandler Parsons, according to regulatory filings. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s enforcement division said it has decided to ban Darryl M. Cohen […]
February 7, 2020
AdvisorHub
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has ordered Morgan Stanely to hand over control of three accounts to Chris Bosh in a contentious dispute between the former pro basketball player and his mother over ownership of the funds, according to an arbitration award. The three arbitrators, however, denied claims from Bosh against the firm […]
September 4, 2019
InvestmentNews
Mark Schoeff Jr.
A Finra arbitration panel ordered TD Ameritrade Inc. to pay an investor $720,816 in a case involving an alleged lack of oversight of an investment adviser to whom it provided custodial services. In an Aug. 28 award, a three-person, all public Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. arbitration panel found TD Ameritrade liable for losses a […]
August 20, 2019
AdvisorHub
Mason Braswell
J.P. Morgan Securities has paid $14 million to settle a claim that it failed to supervise a Los Angeles broker who a client accused of a litany of sales, trading and loan promise abuses, according to regulatory filings. The broker, Antoine Souma, joined Morgan Stanley’s private wealth business in June 2016, and “vehemently denies” the […]
January 2, 2019
AdvisorHub
Jed Horowitz
The widow of a Merrill Lynch broker who allegedly specialized in helping employees at Facebook and other “high-technology” firms invest proceeds of their stock options has sued Merrill for $30 million, claiming its distribution of his “book” without paying him or his estate violated his contract and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Richard Hanson, […]
December 11, 2017
Financial Advisor
Dan Jamieson
This week, Finra proposed a rule that would prohibit brokers from removing customer complaints and certain arbitrations that are more than a year old. The action by Finra addresses a growing number of brokers who are asking to have old complaints erased. As Financial Advisor reported in July, the number of brokers seeking to clean up old disciplinary records has […]
May 8, 2017
Pepperdine University School of Law
In 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation awarded Pepperdine University School of Law’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution a grant to establish a comprehensive clinical education program in investor advocacy. The Clinic represents all of its clients on a pro-bono basis. The Investor Advocacy Clinic is the only FINRA funded Clinic […]
July 19, 2016
Financial Advisor IQ
Murray Coleman
The securities industry’s self-funded watchdog is moving forward with a rule to bump up the number of arbitrators available to be selected for panels judging claims against brokers. In a filing to the SEC earlier this month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority proposed to increase to 15 from 10 the number of “public” arbitrator candidates available […]
May 10, 2016
AdvisorHub
Mason Braswell and Jed Horowitz
Original Story Reasonable advisors can differ over whether Morgan Stanley’s recent dismissal of Amy Forte was fair comeuppance for her dalliance with a billionaire client whose account she allegedly churned. Her latest crusade may draw more unanimous support from the community. The southern Florida ex-broker has gone public with an arbitration claim she’s pressing against the world’s […]
August 17, 2015
Law360
Ed Beeson
After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $180 million enforcement action Monday against two Citigroup units accused of misleading investors ahead of the financial crisis, legal experts said the settlement has some clear winners: Citigroup and its attorneys at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP. Citi agreed to pay the amount to end a long-running probe […]
May 14, 2015
Wall Street Journal
Norb Vonnegut
“When can we expect payment?” asks the soulless lawyer in a cadaverous monotone. He’s from the broker-dealer you used to work for, and he’s talking about the unpaid balance on your Employee Forgivable Loan. You go ballistic. Those clowns broke their promises. They almost destroyed your business, which is taking forever to rebuild. Now what? […]
October 7, 2014
InvestmentNews
Mason Braswell
An elite private banking duo formerly with Bank of America Merrill Lynch is considering legal action against the firm after being terminated last month, according to an attorney for the team. “We believe that Merrill Lynch acted inappropriately and we look forward to testing the actions of Merrill lynch,” said Thomas Lewis of Stevens & Lee. […]
September 3, 2014
Reuters
Suzanne Barlyn
The long-time head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s arbitration unit will retire, the Wall Street watchdog said on Wednesday. Linda Fienberg, who joined FINRA’s predecessor organization, the National Association of Securities Dealers, in 1996, will step down from her post at the end of November, according to a statement from FINRA. A successor has […]
August 12, 2014
Los Angeles Times
Daniel Miller
Wade Bradley sells the Hollywood dream. But unlike the stories on screen, the ending isn’t always happy, some of his investors claim. Bradley’s Media Society Inc. solicits wealthy people to invest in a slate of independent films that it produces and distributes through a subsidiary, with the minimum investment set at $150,000. If the movies […]
April 15, 2014
St. John’s Law Review
Following the Enron and WorldCom scandals in 2001, public outrage over the lack of executive accountability led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 which required better public disclosure. Wall Street argued that this new disclosure standard would cause publicly traded companies to join foreign exchanges instead of United States based securities exchanges, and that this […]
December 23, 2013
New York Times
Susan Antilla
For years, regulators have typically pursued brokerage firms over the failure of investments they sold rather than going after individual stockbrokers, because the target was larger and the possibility of reaching a financial settlement was greater. Now, regulators are shifting their focus in their fight against fraud to encompass brokers. The shift comes even as […]
October 29, 2013
Los Angeles Business Journal
James Rufus Koren
More than a Decade after bond he sold started going bad, former Wedbush Securities Inc, broker Michael Farah finally cashed in, winning more than $4 million from his former employer last month. It’s a rare case, not only because of the size of the award and the years it took to win it, but also […]
October 24, 2013
Wall Street Journal
Corrie Driebusch
Bambi Holzer spent decades as a financial broker to Hollywood’s rich and famous, dispensing advice from her offices in Beverly Hills, California. She wrote best-selling financial self-help books and frequently appeared on television. But she also had another claim to fame: reaching the top 10 among 550,000 brokers with the highest number of customer complaints, […]
October 23, 2013
Wall Street Journal
Matthias Rieker
When Michael Farah sided with his clients after they suffered losses in mortgage-backed securities, his firm–Wedbush Securities—turned on him for being disloyal. The firm spent a decade trying to pin responsibility on him but lost when an arbitration panel awarded Mr. Farah $4.3 million in compensation, punitive damages and years of legal fees. Retired family […]
September 26, 2013
Wall Street Journal
Matthias Rieker
Wedbush Securities Inc. must pay a former broker $4.3 million in damages and legal fees for business he said he lost because of collateralized mortgage obligations he sold that went bad on clients. While many mortgage-backed securities plummeted in value after the 2008 financial crisis, those involved in this case soured years earlier, in 2003. […]
September 26, 2013
InvestmentNews
Bruce Kelly
A former star Wedbush Securities Inc. broker Wednesday won a stunning $4.2 million arbitration award against his old firm in a case that dated back to sales of risky collateralized mortgage obligations before the credit crisis. At the heart of the claim by former Wedbush broker Michael Farah is the allegation that “Wedbush made misrepresentations […]
September 26, 2013
Law360
Kathryn Brenzel
Wedbush Securities Inc. has to pay one of its former brokers nearly $4.3 million in lost income and attorneys’ fees after an arbitration panel ruled Wednesday that the broker lost clients due to the California firm’s misrepresentation of certain mortgage-backed securities. Ex-Wedbush broker Michael Farah won a lengthy battle on Wednesday against his former employer […]
June 11, 2013
InvestmentNews
Dan Jamieson
A former J.P. Morgan broker has filed an arbitration claim alleging that the bank’s securities unit encouraged sales of proprietary funds by withholding commissions from brokers on trades of outside funds. The claim, filed last month with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. by Bryant Tchan against J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, said that an internal review system […]
April 11, 2013
Dow Jones Compliance Watch
Caitlin Nish
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s board next week will consider proposed changes intended to simplify the rules for investors selecting an arbitration panel. Finra, which oversees the arbitration forum, regularly contends with charges that the system favors brokerages, and has been making changes to help ensure a level playing field. The introduction in 2011 of […]
February 13, 2013
ABCNews
Jack Lew, the Treasury Secretary nominee, has faced significant scrutiny due to his past associations with Wall Street. Lew’s career includes prominent roles at Citigroup, one of the financial giants central to the 2008 financial crisis. Critics argue that his tenure at Citigroup and the substantial bonuses he received, even as the firm teetered […]
