Securities Fraud Attorneys in Indianapolis, Indiana
The White Law Group, LLC, serving investors in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with over thirty years securities law experience. The firm has offices in Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington.
Brokerage firms have an obligation to be staffed with qualified financial professionals. Brokerage firms are also responsible for establishing sufficient compliance departments to monitor the conduct of the brokers to insure that they are acting within FINRA Rules. If the fraud or negligence of a stockbroker results in a significant economic loss for an investor, the broker-dealer firm may be held liable for the actions of their broker.
Securities Fraud Claims in Indianapolis, Indiana
We represent Indiana investors in all types of securities related claims, including the following:
Unsuitability
Brokers investment recommendations must be in with the customer’s age, financial situation, investment objective and investment experience. Investment in a particular type of security may be unsuitable, or the amount or frequency of transactions may be excessive and therefore unsuitable for a given customer.
Churning/Excessive Trading
If a broker is constantly buying and selling in the account, this may be evidence of churning, which means engaging in excessive trading in order to generate commissions for the broker. Such activity constitutes another form of securities fraud. Even if the broker is constantly calling the customer prior to placing the trades, this activity is still improper where the broker is abusing the account for his own purposes.
Misrepresentation or Omissions
Sometimes a customer will complain that the broker said that something was a very safe investment but the customer later discovered that in fact it was very risky. Customers rely upon the recommendations of financial advisors, and failure to properly disclose the risk is a misrepresentation or material omission. Unfortunately, many investors do not discover the truth in such cases until after they have incurred substantial losses and then realize that the investment was not so safe in the first place. But this should be distinguished from the situation of an experienced, wealthy investor who wants to speculate with a portion of his portfolio, understands the risk, is willing to take the risk, and is able to afford the risk.
“Selling Away”
Selling away is when a broker or financial advisor solicits you to purchase securities not held or offered by the brokerage firm. As a general rule, such activities are a violation of securities regulations. Typically, when a broker is “selling away,” the investments are in the form of private placements or other non-public investments, and often these are investments that the broker has some pecuniary interest in. Such an investment is generally a violation of securities rules because the brokerage firm has not researched the risks of the investment or approved the investment for sale to its clients, and the broker is selling the investment without the knowledge of his employer. Nonetheless, a broker-dealer can be held liable for a financial advisor’s “selling away” for failing to adequately supervise its employees and protect its clients.
Our firm provides investors with a degree of service that you would expect to receive from a large firm, while still offering a level of individual attention hallmark of a family-style boutique law firm. Our clients are important to us and we work hard to help our clients recover money they lost as a result of the negligence of their financial advisor or investment firm.
Unauthorized Transactions or Trading
Sometimes a customer may be surprised to discover certain trades made in his account which had not been previously discussed by the financial advisor This constitutes unauthorized trading, which is prohibited. Sometimes a broker may call the customer after the fact and say that he has just placed a particular trade in the account. The mere fact that the broker informed the customer of the trade afterwards does not make that manner of trading acceptable. However, if the customer indicates his acceptance of the trade, that may be viewed as ratification of the broker’s act.
Free Consultation with an Indianapolis Broker Fraud Attorney
The White Law Group handles securities fraud cases in all 50 states including Indiana, including reviewing securities fraud cases in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Bloomington, South Bend and Muncie. With over 30 years of securities law experience, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors through FINRA Arbitration.
If you are looking for an Indianapolis broker fraud attorney, please call The White Law Group’s offices at 888-637-5510.
