Park Avenue Securities - Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce

Aug 7, 2020

Park Avenue Securities Censured for Engaging in Multiclass Mutual Fund Abuse

Park Avenue Securities in New York, New York, submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which the firm was censured for allegedly engaging in multiclass mutual fund abuse and failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system and written supervisory procedures reasonably designed to ensure that customers who purchased mutual fund shares received the benefit of applicable sales charge waivers. As a result, Park Avenue violated NASD Conduct Rule 3010, FINRA Rule 3110, and FINRA Rule 2010. Since 1999, Park Avenue Securities (Park Avenue) has been a member firm of FINRA with 45 branch offices. According to the FINRA findings, Park Avenue had certain investors that were eligible for waiver of the initial sales charge associated with Class A shares. Instead, Park Avenue sold them Class A shares with a front-end sales charge or Class B or C shares with back-end sales charges and higher ongoing fees and expenses. The FINRA findings stated that 264 of Park Avenue’s customers who purchased mutual fund shares were overcharged by approximately $560,170. The findings also stated that Park Avenue allegedly failed to notify, train, and assist its financial advisors regarding the mutual fund sales charge waivers. In addition, Park Avenue determined that they had failed to provide these charge waivers after FINRA sent a targeted examination letter for them to review its applicable sales as part of a Mutual Fund Fee Waiver Sweep.

Oct 23, 2015

12 More Independent Broker Dealers Fined by FINRA for Failing to Give UIT Discounts to Investors

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined a dozen independent broker-dealers (IBDs) for failing to give their clients the proper discounts available to them, known as breakpoint discounts, on sales of unit investment trusts (UITs). They were also cited for related supervisory failures. Some of the biggest fines were levied against First Allied Securities Inc. (First Allied), Fifth Third Securities Inc. (Fifth Third), Securities America Inc. (Securities America), Cetera Advisors LLC (Cetera Advisors), and Park Avenue Securities LLC (Park Avenue). FINRA ordered the 12 firms to pay both fines and restitution totaling $6.7 million. The other firms sanctioned were: Commonwealth Financial Network (Commonwealth Financial), MetLife Securities Inc. (MetLife), Comerica Securities (Comerica), Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Ameritas Investment Corp. (Ameritas), Infinex Investments Inc. (Infinex), and The Huntington Investment Company (Huntington Investment).

Oct 21, 2015

Park Avenue Securities Broker Suspended for Equity-Indexed Annuity Sales

Robert Michael Diehl, a former broker with Murphysboro, Illinois based Park Avenue Securities LLC, submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) in which the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) found that he sold equity-indexed annuities (EIAs) to his firm’s customers but failed to properly notify the firm of the sales. FINRA found that rather than having the customers complete the appropriate applications and submitting them to his member firm, Robert Diehl submitted the applications directly to the issuer of the EIAs. In doing so, Mr. Diehl bypassed the supervisory review and approval of the sales of the EIAs. FINRA’s findings state that Mr. Diehl neglected to disclose to Park Avenue Securities that he made the sales, for which he received approximately $55,500 in commissions by the EIA issuer without receiving permission for the sales from Park Avenue.