Harold E. Wilson, a former broker with Ameritas Investment Corp., has been permanently barred from the financial industry for engaging in private securities transactions without disclosing this activity to his firm

In addition, Wilson was barred for failing to respond to repeated requests for information on these transactions from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He was also ordered to pay restitution of $10,000 plus interest to customers' from whom he misappropriated fu...

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The Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) filed a disciplinary proceeding on March 28 alleging that former broker William Bruce Smith misappropriated $100,000 from a customer.

Smith, who worked for FINRA-member Triad Advisors in Shrewsbury, Ma., at the time of the misappropriation, was registered as a general securities representative and principal as well as a direct participation programs limited representative. S...

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Sometimes the moral decay that leads financial professionals to steal from their clients runs deeper than anyone could expect.

For instance, the news is out that Robert Bales, the U.S. Army staff sergeant accused of massacring 16 Afghan civilians, was a former stockbroker on the losing end of a 2003 arbitration before the Financial Industry Regulatory...

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A second defendant has been added to an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois stemming from a Ponzi scheme that fraudulently obtained $105 million in investments from about 400 victims, leading to $34 million in losses. 

The newly added defendant, Alfred Gerebizza, and his co-defendant Daniel Spitzer allegedly misappropriated money raised from investors for funds they said they operated from the U.S. Virgin Islands. The defendants allegedly made Ponzi-type payments of about $71 million to certain investors, as well as used money for t...

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Retail investors lucky enough to have never had trouble with stockbrokers, or the broker-dealer firms who employ them, may not be aware that the standard of conduct for these investment professionals is below that of a fiduciary.

A fiduciary is obligated to act in the best interest of the person or entity to which the fiduciary duty is owed. This includes full disclosure of possible conflicts of interest.

Thanks to the Advisers Act of 1940, investment advisors have long had to adhere to the fiduciary duties of loyalty and care, but stockbrokers and broker-dealers ha...

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