Have you suffered losses investing in leveraged or inverse ETFs recommended to you by former Merrill Lynch financial advisor Giancarlo Ciocca?  If so, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help you to recover your losses through FINRA arbitration.

The White Law Group is investigating the liability that Merrill Lynch may have for failure to properly supervise Mr. Ciocca.  According to Mr. Ciocca’s FINRA Broker Report (CRD), he voluntarily resigned from Merrill Lynch in April 2011 after the firm alleged that he placed unauthorized trades in a client’s account, diverted the client’s account statements, and provided fraudulent account statements.

Mr. Ciocca has also been named in at least seven customer complaints and each of these claims appear to involve his alleged improper recommendations of leveraged or inverse ETFs.

Leveraged or inverse ETFs are generally not appropriate for “buy and hold” investors because a leveraged ETF may reset each day, and its performance may quickly deviate from the underlying index, currency, commodity or basket of assets it is attempting to mirror.  Typically, retail customers are only familiar with the more traditional ETFs that track a particular index and are blindsided by the risks actually associated with leveraged ETFs.

Brokerage firms have a responsibility to supervise its financial advisors and to ensure that its advisors are recommending investments that are appropriate for its clients in light of the clients’ age, net worth, investment experience, and investment objectives.  Based on the information disclosed on his FINRA Broker Report, it appears that Merrill Lynch failed to properly supervise Mr. Ciocca and permitted him to over-concentrate Merrill Lynch clients in high-risk, unsuitable ETFs.

If you suffered losses investing with Giancarlo Ciocca, please call the securities attorneys of The White Law Group at 312/238-9650 for a free consultation.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, 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, please visit our website at http://whitesecuritieslaw.com.