American Portfolios Financial Services - Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce

Apr 22, 2016

Former Ameritas and TFS Securities Representative Barred for Converting Client Funds

Richard A. McGuire, of Bay Shore, New York, has been permanently barred from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities to the public for allegedly taking $95,000 from a customer under false pretenses and refusing to give the money back when the customer requested it. The National Adjudicatory Council (NAC) of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) affirmed the findings and sanctions imposed by the Office of Hearing Officers (OHO) which found that Richard McGuire converted $95,000 of a former customer’s money by using the money for his personal use and forged her signature on two loan agreements. FINRA’s Department of Enforcement had found that Mr. McGuire was allegedly given the money to invest in an annuity-like product and neither loaned him the money nor signed any loan documents.

Mar 23, 2016

American Portfolios Representative Fined and Suspended for Unsuitable Mutual Fund Switches

Jeffrey Davidson, a registered representative employed by the Stuart, Florida branch of American Portfolios Financial Services, Inc. (American Portfolios), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the entry of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he made unsuitable mutual fund switch recommendations which cost his customers approximately $46,000 in unnecessary sales charges. According to FINRA, Jeffrey Lee Davidson, of Stuart, Florida, recommended a series of mutual fund switches in 12 customer accounts which were unsuitable for those customers. Mr. Davidson recommended that the customers, one of whom was 97 years old and 5 others were 65 or older, purchase Class A mutual funds, for which they paid commissions and sales charges. He then recommended that they sell the mutual funds within less than one year of the purchase. Mr. Davidson used the funds from the sales of the mutual funds to purchase other mutual funds, for which the customers paid additional commissions and fees.

Mar 9, 2016

American Portfolios Financial Services Fined By FINRA for Unsuitable Mutual Fund Switches

American Portfolios Financial Services, Inc. (American Portfolios) submitted a letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) in which it was censured and fined $50,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to supervise the unsuitable mutual fund switches by two of its registered representatives. According to FINRA, American Portfolios, based out of Holbrook New York, engaged in unsuitable mutual fund switching through two of its registered representatives which resulted in its customers incurring nearly $91,000 in unnecessary sales charges. During the relevant time period, FINRA found that the two American Portfolios representatives recommended 78 unsuitable mutual fund switch transactions in 15 customer accounts.