By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group Matthew Haab, president of Partners Inc., faces charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme. The SEC believes that Haab deceived eighty of his clients into investing in loans to farmers. The clients were told that the loans would be […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group Earlier this month, an Oklahoma court ordered a new arbitration hearing for an investor’s claims against Geary Securities Inc. Steven Admire argued that the arbitration panel failed to provide him with an adequate award of damages. Mr. Admire claimed a total of $1.6 million in damages […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group posted in Securities on Friday, July 11, 2014. Max E. Zavanelli, a Florida based money manager, was banned from the securities industry. An administrative law judge found that the SEC presented sufficient evidence to establish that Zavanelli provided misleading information to Morningstar. Zavanelli and his firm, ZPR Investment Management […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group Travis Wetzel, an advisor from Frederick, Maryland was indicted on wire fraud charges last month. Wetzel was the branch operations manager at Research Financial Strategy, an advisory firm located in Rockville, Maryland. Wetzel allegedly embezzled $1,282,224 from a clients of the firm. On May 9, 2014, […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group Jonathan Feldman, a former Maryland banker, has been accused by the SEC of misleading investors through an investment strategy known as “naked short selling.” The Wall Street Journal provides the following explanation of a naked short sale: In a short sale, a trader borrows stock from a third […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group StateTrust Investment Inc. was fined by FINRA for unfairly pricing customer bond transactions. FINRA alleged that from 2007 to 2010, 563 bond transactions had been unreasonably marked up or marked down. To remedy this wrongdoing, FINRA has required StateTrust to pay over $1 million in fines […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined both Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch $2.15 million for the unsuitable recommendation and sale of mutual funds known as “floating-rate bank loan funds.” Not only were Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo ordered to pay a hefty fine, FINRA also […]
