Oppenheimer & Co - Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce

Jul 31, 2017

Oppenheimer Broker Suspended for Unsuitable ETF Recommendations

Edward McFarlane, a registered representative formerly employed with Oppenheimer & Co. Oppenheimer), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC), in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he recommended and effected unsuitable ETF recommendations in his customer’s account, resulting in losses to his customer of approximately $48,524.79. Edward Thomas McFarlane, of Glenside, Pennsylvania, allegedly recommended and effected approximately 169 transactions involving inverse, leveraged, and inverse-leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs). FINRA found that Mr. McFarlane recommended that the non-traditional ETFs be held in his customer’s account for as long as 470 days, with an average holding time of 40 days. The ETFs recommended by Mr. McFarlane were intended to be short-term trading vehicles and not meant to be long-term investments.

Mar 24, 2016

Oppenheimer Broker Fined and Suspended by FINRA for Falsifying Letters of Authorization

Stephen Oberman, a registered representative formerly employed with the Chicago, Illinois based Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Oppenheimer), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the described sanctions and the entry of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he falsified signatures on at least 51 letters of authorization (LOAs) requesting fund disbursements from and address changes to a customer’s account. FINRA’s findings stated that while serving as a General Securities Representative at Oppenheimer, Stephen Mark Oberman, of Naperville, Illinois, was assigned to the account of a customer that had a trust with three trustees. Mr. Oberman falsified the trustees’ signatures by photocopying their signatures from other firm documents and cutting and pasting them onto the LOAs. Even after two of the trustees had died, Mr. Oberman continued to falsify their signatures, only disclosing this to Oppenheimer after learning that two of the three trustees were deceased.

Jul 22, 2015

Former Austin Texas UBS and Oppenheimer Stockbroker Fined and Suspended

Zahir Walji of Austin, Texas submitted an Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) in which he was assessed a fine by the Department of Enforcement for the Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and suspended from association with any FINRA member for a period of three months for allegedly failing to provide proper written notice about his outside business activities and failing to disclose two outside business activities. Walji has been associated with two FINRA member firms since entering the industry in 2006. From January 2006 through October 2012, Walji was associated with UBS Financial Services, Inc. (UBS). On October 12, 2012, UBS filed a Form U5 terminating Walji for “engaging in unapproved outside business activities and private securities transactions with firm clients”. Walji was a representative for Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. from October, 2012 until his termination in May, 2014.

Jul 10, 2015

Miami Florida Oppenheimer & Co. Representative Fined and Suspended

Miami, Florida resident Patrick McGrath III submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) with the purpose of settling the alleged violations that he borrowed funds from his member firm’s client and made false statements while under investigation. McGrath entered the securities industry in 1984 and has been associated with several FINRA-regulated broker dealers throughout his career. In April 2009, McGrath became associated with Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Oppenheimer) as a registered representative. However, in January 2014, Oppenheimer filed a Uniform Termination Notice for Securities Industry Registration (Form U5) reporting that McGrath failed “to timely finalize arrangements to repay loans he received” from a Oppenheimer customer.

Jan 29, 2015

Oppenheimer Admits Guilt to Penny Stock Pump and Dump Schemes

As part of concurrent settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. (Oppenheimer) has admitted it is guilty and agreed to pay $20 million for engaging in unregistered sales of penny stocks. According to the SEC Order, one Oppenheimer Financial Advisor and his immediate supervisor, an Oppenheimer Branch Office Manager, engaged in the sales of 2.5 billion shares of unregistered penny stocks for an investor customer. Those trades generated $12 million, of which Oppenheimer was paid $588,400 in commissions. The SEC Order states further that Oppenheimer personnel was aware of red flags indicative of illegal unregistered penny stock trades and failed to property follow up on those warning signs. Further, Oppenheimer failed to supervise its employees by failing to establish procedures to ensure its employees comply with Section 5 of the Securities Act.