FINRA recently announced that Canaccord Adams Inc. (a registered brokerage firm in Boston, Massachusetts) has been fined $12,500 and censured for securities violations. Without admitting or denying the findings, Canaccord Adams consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to provide written notification disclosing to its customers its correct capacity in transactions; and when it acted as principal for its own account, failed to provide written notification disclosing to its customers that it was a market maker in each such security. The findings further stated that Canaccord Adams accepted short sale orders in equity securities from another person, or effected short sales in equity securities for its own account, without borrowing the security or entering into a bona fide arrangement to borrow the security; or having reasonable grounds to believe that the security could be borrowed so that it could be delivered on the date delivery is due. Finally, the findings stated that Canaccord Adams failed to document compliance with SEC Rule 203(b)(1) of Regulation SHO (Rule 203 requires broker-dealers, prior to effecting short sales in all equity securities, to locate securities available for borrowing in order to be able to deliver securities on the settlement date of the transaction. It also imposes additional requirements on broker-dealers for securities in which a substantial amount of failures to deliver have occurred).

According to Canaccord Adams’ FINRA Broker Report (CRD), FINRA’s recent fine is not the first time the firm has been named in a regulatory investigation. In fact, it appears that Canaccord Adams has been named in as many as 17 regulatory inquires related to securities fraud violations. The CRD also indicates that the firm’s principals are John Weston Adams, J Eric Anderson, James Masson Brown, Peter M. Brown, Thomas Edward Gabel, Bradley William Kotush, Donald Duncan Macfayden, Mark G. Maybank, and Paul D. Reynolds.

If you have any questions about investments you made with Canaccord Adams or if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, The White Law Group may be able to help. To speak with a securities attorney, pleas call our Chicago office at 312-238-9650.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud group, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.

For more information on The White Law Group, visit http://whitesecuritieslaw.com.