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San Diego News Network
The widow of a San Diego resident who lost trust fund money in a retirement fund advertised as being low-risk, but that invested in mortgage-backed securities, was awarded $157,498 today by an arbitration panel. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority awarded the Everett Ross family trust 100 percent of its losses plus expert witness costs. “Although […]The Tribune
Jeffrey Forrest can’t act as an investment adviser or work with broker-dealers A San Luis Obispo man charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been barred from acting as an investment adviser. Jeffrey Forrest, owner and principal of WealthWise LLC, will not be allowed to associate with any broker-dealer or be […]
Investment News
regulators say there is a shortfall of data for investors when it comes to such cases. Keeping track of rogue brokers is a tricky business, particularly when they leave or are booted from the confines of the securities industry, but keep peddling financial products. Take, for example, Jeffrey Forrest, who no longer sells securities through […]
San Luis Obispo Tribune
SLO County investors put money in risky hedge fund promoted as safe by adviser, regulator says More than $8.8 million has been awarded to a group of San Luis Obispo County investors – clients of Jeffrey Forrest of WealthWise LLC in San Luis Obispo – who lost millions in what amounted to a risky hedge […]
San Luis Obispo Tribune
A group of San Luis Obispo County investors – clients of Jeffrey Forrest of WealthWise LLC in San Luis Obispo who had lost millions in the failed APEX Equity Options Fund – has been awarded more than $8.8 million in damages by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, an independent regulator of U.S. securities firms. The […]
San Luis Obispo Tribune
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a San Luis Obispo based investment adviser with fraud, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles last week. The SEC charges are based on the failure of WealthWise principal Jeffrey Forrest to disclose to his clients that he had a conflict of interest in […]
Bloomberg
Let’s say you had $50,000 in auction- rate securities that your broker said were as safe as money- market funds. The market collapsed and you sold at an 80 percent haircut. At your arbitration hearing, one of the three panel members works at a firm that also sold auction rates deceptively. How fair will the […]
New York Times
How much is your investment worth? That might seem like a simple question on Wall Street, where the price of everything from Apple to zinc flickers across computer screens every day. But inside Bear Stearns, the answer was anything but clear last spring for investors who put their money into two giant, but ultimately doomed, […]
Bloomberg
Bear Stearns Cos. hedge fund manager Ralph Cioffi raised a vodka toast to his own survival on March 2, 2007, after posting a 0.08 percent loss in one of the subprime mortgage securities portfolios he was managing, according to a federal criminal indictment filed yesterday. “We have our health and families,” Cioffi told fellow portfolio […]
Wall Street Journal
A group of four law firms has filed additional investor arbitration claims against Bear Stearns Cos. and a fund manager alleging the firm was less than candid with investors in one of its hedge funds. “Our investigation indicates that officials at Bear Stearns engaged in a concerted effort to conceal the true state of affairs […]
Infovest21 News
So far, a class action lawsuit has been filed against Citigroup in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida for investors in the Falcon Fund. The case is Robert Zeff v.Citigroup Alternative Investments. The lawyers are calling on investors who lost more than $100,000 to join the action. Brokers who sold […]
San Luis Obispo Tribune
A hearing in the first of four arbitration cases filed against Jeffrey Forrest of WealthWise LLC in San Luis Obispo is scheduled to be held late this year. Beverly Hills attorneys representing San Luis Obispo County investors who were clients of Forrest and lost millions in a failed equity investment fund, said the first hearing […]
Memphis Daily News
The Memphis brokerage firm that oversees a group of struggling mutual funds has settled an arbitration claim filed against one of them. The RMK funds saw much of their value wiped out in 2007’s credit crisis. Terms of the settlement between Morgan Keegan & Co. and the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund, a group that grants […]
Bloomberg
WASHINGTON, USA (Bloomberg): Bear Stearns Cos. clients hit with about $62 million in losses tied to the June collapse of two Cayman Islands hedge funds began filing claims this week, accusing the bank of deception and other misconduct, plaintiffs’ lawyers said. At least 11 institutional and retail investors will file arbitration cases with the Financial […]
New York Times
The first of a new round of investor claims was filed against Bear Stearns Cos. <BSC.N> on Wednesday for its role in managing two mortgage hedge funds that collapsed earlier this year, securities lawyers said. The claims, which will be submitted to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for arbitration, represent more legal challenges for […]
Investment Dealers Digest
In the latest development surrounding Bear Stearns’ conduct relating to two collapsed hedge funds, the Massachusetts Securities Division earlier this month accused the company of fraud. At the same time, lawyers representing other investors claim to have proof, through email correspondence, that Bear knew of a severe liquidity crisis yet continued to market the two […]
The Tribune
Attorneys for some investors who lost millions in an equity fund recommended by Jeffrey Forrest of WealthWise LLC in San Luis Obispo claim he also sold investments in at least four businesses that were unsuitable. Putting investors in unsuitable investments is evidence of wrongful conduct, according to financial regulators. Two of those companies are San […]
Investment News
The collapse of some hedge funds may be turning into the next cause celebre for plaintiff’s attorneys who file arbitration claims on behalf of investors looking to recoup losses. And while lawyers are clearly taking aim at giant hedge funds managed by firms such as The Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. of New York, they are […]
The Tribune
A second arbitration claim was filed this week on behalf of 14 households that collectively lost nearly $10 million in an equity investment they allege they were directed to by Jeffrey Forrest and Wealth- Wise LLC in San Luis Obispo. They are among dozens of local investors who were clients of Forrest and who lost […]
KSBY 6 Action News
Central Coast investors who lost thousands of dollars want their money back. Here are the Facts First: A nationwide broker dealer called “Associated Securities” is being sued by 30 San Luis Obispo investors who lost money in a hedge fund. Investors say they were assured by an advisor their money was safe. The minimum amount they could invest […]
San Luis Obispo Tribune
An arbitration claim filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on behalf of seven households provides an inside look at the losses suffered by some of the San Luis Obispo County residents who were invested in the APEX Equity Options Fund. Collectively, the households invested more than $5 million in the fund. One retired couple […]
San Luis Obispo Tribune
Dozens of local investors – clients of Jeffrey Forrest of WealthWise LLC in San Luis Obispo-have lost millions of dollars in a equity fund valued at more than $46 million that was wiped out in August, according to legal documents filed in recent weeks. The clients-among them a quadriplegic man, a retired nurse, a stay-at-home […]
Investment Dealers Digest
Following the collapse this summer of two Bear Stearns hedge funds – its High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Master Fund and its High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Master – disgruntled investors, both in the US and overseas, are teaming up to bring legal action against the Wall Street firm. Several complaints are being […]
New York Post
August 28, 2007 — Investors who put money into two Bear Stearns hedge funds that blew up because of bad bets on subprime mortgages still might get a chance to recover a bit of their investment. A federal judge in Manhattan yesterday temporarily blocked investors from seizing the assets of the two funds, but said […]
Wall Street Journal
Big investors aren’t the only ones getting burned by mortgage investments. Some brokerage firms who put their customers in risky mortgage investments now have small investors fighting to get their money back. That includes customers of Irvine, Calif., brokerage firm Brookstreet Securities Corp., which shut down last month after the value of some of its […]
Orange County Register
Wedbush Morgan found liable in suit filed by 22 clients who said they were sold riskier securities than represented. By MARY ANN MILBOURN THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc. in Newport Beach must pay $3.8 million in damages and legal fees in the first of several cases involving its sale of a form […]
Dow Jones Compliance Watch
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–You can’t please all the people all the time, but in the financial advisory world, not pleasing the clients a lot of the time can trigger “heightened supervision.” Regulators expect firms to conduct their own heightened supervision but will sanction them if they don’t. And while these regulators leave the criteria for […]
Reuters
NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) – An NASD arbitration panel ordered Morgan Stanley (MWD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to pay a brokerage client $452,034 for making unauthorized margin trades that nearly wiped out the client’s account, lawyers for the plaintiff said on Thursday. Joacy Silva, a 52-year-old resident of Van Nuys, California, won the award on […]
PR Newswire
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, November 18, 2004 /PRNewswire/ – The following was released today: A National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) arbitration panel found liable and ordered Morgan Stanley DW, Inc. (NYSE: MWD) to pay Joacy Silva a total of $452,034 for the company’s breach of fiduciary duty and failure to supervise registered representative Rick Schoen […]
New York Post
A New York Stock Exchange arbitration panel awarded a California investor $3.1 million after finding a New York-based investment company made unauthorized trades and failed to protect a large stock position. The investor, Jay Hoge, won $2.1 million in compensatory damages and another $1 million in punitive damages from Sands Brothers. Hoge, a technology services […]
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) – An NASD panel awarded $1 million of damages to a Prudential Securities Inc. client because the firm did not properly discipline a broker despite customer complaints, the client’s law firm said. Under the arbitration ruling made last Friday by the market regulator, Prudential Securities. which is jointly owned by Prudential Financial […]
Los Angeles Times
Investors who are thinking about suing their brokers over losses suffered during the recent bear market might take heart from the case of John and Patricia Murray. The Los Angeles retirees, who filed an arbitration claim in 2002 against Prudential Securities alleging they’d gotten bad investment advice two years earlier, recently won their case, receiving […]
Los Angeles Times
A retired couple, who charged that their broker made inappropriate investments with their money, has won a $239,670 arbitration judgment against Prudential Securities Inc. The award, handed down by a National Assn. of Securities Dealers arbitration panel in Los Angeles and made public Thursday, allowed John and Patricia Murray of Los Angeles to recover all […]
Los Angeles Times
The probe of mutual fund trading practices unveiled last week by New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer has rocked the money management industry and left many on Wall Street wondering just what the scandal would mean for the stock market’s fledgling recovery. Although sales could well suffer at the firms directly caught up in Spitzer’s […]
Wall Street Journal
Stung by massive stock-market losses and emboldened by the intense regulatory attack on Wall Street, investors are expected to file a record number of arbitration claims against brokers this year. The average payouts going to miffed investors are getting higher, too. Stockholders typically win only slightly more than half of the cases that go to […]
Reuters
Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE:MER – News), the biggest U.S. brokerage, will pay $331,000 to a former client in Los Angeles to settle claims that a broker mishandled his investments, according to a NASD arbitration document. Gene Hines, a writer-producer, filed a claim against Merrill on Nov. 26, 2001, which accused the firm of breach […]
The Daily Journal
When the stock market tanked three years ago, a lot of investors lost their shirts. Some brokerage houses blamed market forces for their customers’ shrunken portfolios. Merrill Lynch took that position after two of its clients, brothers Aleks and Michel Horvat, lost more than $2 million over an eight-month period in 2000. The brothers subsequently […]
Dow Jones Newswires
Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) lost $2.14 million in an arbitration case to two Los Angeles brothers who the firm claims tried to mirror the trading strategies of Hollywood director Michael Bay. The brothers, Aleks and Michel Horvat, accused the firm of churning their accounts and placing them in unsuitable stocks, including Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) […]
Dow Jones Newswires
WASHINGTON — Regulators’ $1.4 billion settlement with Wall Street Friday concluded a potentially expensive and lengthy investigation, but all eyes are now on the potential for private litigation against the firms involved. The settlement requires 10 major investment banks and brokerage firms to pay fines, provide independent research for their customers, end the practice of […]
San Diego Union Tribune
Paula Whitsell was at her desk in Wells Fargo’s branch in Chula Vista when the FBI burst in, put her in handcuffs and led her past a line of stunned customers and bank clerks. Five years later – long after federal prosecutors dropped their charges – arbitrators with the National Association of Securities Dealers last […]
PR Newswire
Paula Whitsell, a former financial consultant at Wells Fargo Securities, Inc. (“Wells Fargo”) in San Diego, California, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC – news) was awarded $1.15 million by an NASD Dispute Resolution arbitration panel. The award against Wells Fargo came after more than two years of litigation stemming from a […]
Seattle Times
Irate investors who have been burned by their brokers or the market are out for revenge. Across the nation, legal filings against stockbrokers are at unprecedented levels, said the National Association of Securities Dealers, which regulates brokers. Securities attorneys say they’re being bombarded with legitimate cases and with calls from people who have lost lots […]
Newsday
Merrill Lynch & Co. is appealing a $7.7 million arbitration award that securities lawyers say could foreshadow a tidal wave of trouble for the nation’s large full-service brokerages. A private arbitration panel made the award last month to a Pittsburgh couple who claimed Merrill didn’t properly advise them on how to handle a large investment […]
USA Today
Plenty of investors are upset with their stockbrokers, but they are also losing faith that Wall Street’s watchdog group will help them. Consider this: Investor arbitration claims against brokers jumped 24% last year. But, at the same time, investor complaints to that watchdog group, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), fell 22%. That may […]
PR Newswire
The Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA), a nationwide bar organization of attorneys dedicated to the representation of individual investors in disputes with the securities industry, today announced its support for the Pension Protection and Diversification Act of 2001. The danger of over concentrating employee 401(k) plan assets in the stock of the employee’s company […]
Money Magazine
WHEN OVERZEALOUS BROKERS MET NEWLY MINTED INVESTORS IN THE LONG BULL MARKET, FORTUNES WERE MADE AND LOST IN AN INSTANT. NOW EVERYONE’S POINTING FINGERS OVER THE MISSING MONEY. Since stocks peaked in March of last year, investors in the U.S. market have lost $4 trillion in paper wealth. That’s an awful lot of money, and […]
San Jose Mercury News
Denise Day knew she needed help managing $1.4 million in cash and stock options she received in her divorce. So, like many investors, she turned to a broker for advice. Just over a year later, she’s filed to take her broker to arbitration, alleging she lost almost everything when he handled her investments more aggressively […]
HorsesMouth.com
How long do you have to wait for a complaint to get resolved at E*Trade? For one investor, it took 40 days, and according to his attorney, the problem is exacerbated by phone reps’ lack of experience. Quote of the Week “Order-takers have been there as little as six months. Managers have been in the […]
Los Angeles Times
Convinced that she had been defrauded by her stockbroker, Cara Marks fought back. She took her claim to the arbitration program of the National Assn. of Securities Dealers, the nation’s dominant forum for resolving legal disputes between investors and brokers. For Marks, who said the broker sent falsified financial statements to keep her in the […]
As seen on CNBC & MSNBC
Aug 14 – The extended bull market and the record trading volume in U.S. stocks has fattened the bottom line for the nation’s securities firms. Before taxes, they earned more than $12 billion last year – a record. But that money has a downside, too. It’s a temptation for an unscrupulous few. ONE CALIFORNIA regulator […]