Although stockbrokers and broker-dealers are not always held to the same high ethical standards that financial advisers are, they are legally required to recommend only those investments that are suitable for their clients. Unfortunately, some of them fail to meet this minimum standard of responsibility.
San Francisco attorney, Jeffrey A. Feldman, represents clients from throughout California and nationwide in cases of such broker misconduct. Since 1991, Mr. Feldman has been dedicated almost exclusively to practicing in the area of securities law. He has helped to recover many millions of dollars for hundreds of clients who have been victimized by broker misconduct.
Help For A Wide Spectrum Of Misconduct
Attorney Feldman handles matters such as:
- Failure to conduct proper due diligence
- Unsuitable investments or investment plan
- Churning (excessive trading)
- Over-concentrating funds in a particular stock or class of securities or equities
- Improper execution (failing to follow instructions)
- Placing client funds into unsuitable products or into bad products, including class B mutual funds, variable annuities and others
- Improper sales practices (pump-dump schemes, high-pressure tactics)
- Fraud or misrepresentation, including white collar crimes such as theft, forgery, embezzlement and insider trading
- Poor options advice, including shorting calls when you do not want to sell the underlying stock
- Employee stock options
- Bad advice, including advice relating to IRA rollovers and 72t programs
- Selling away, where the broker sells investments to you without his firm’s knowledge
There are ways to protect yourself in choosing a broker who is ethical, honest and worthy of the trust that you will place in them. The FINRA Central Registration Depository (CRD) maintains valuable background information such as histories of broker misconduct, settlements, personal qualifications, employment records and other disclosures on more than half-a-million registered securities dealers and brokers in the United States.