Steve A. Brubaker barred from FINRA

FINRA recently announced that Steve A. Brubaker, formerly of Woodbury Financial Services, Inc. in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, has been barred from association with any FINRA member firm in any capacity.

Without admitting or denying, Brubaker consented to findings that he recommended that his customers invest in bearer bonds, falsely representing that the bond issuer was a non-profit entity that helped needy people and had been in existence for 15 years, when in fact, no such securities investment existed. The findings further stated that Brubaker provided his customers with fake certificates for the bonds and used the $180,000 he obtained from the customers for his personal benefit. Finally, the findings found that Brubaker also misappropriated $49,000 of insurance proceeds that a customer entrusted to him after misrepresenting to the investor that the proceeds were invested in the bonds, when he had again used the funds for his own benefit.

In addition to the foregoing FINRA investigation, it also appears that Steve A. Brubaker has been named in at least 7 customer complaints related to securities fraud, most while he was employed by Woodbury Financial Services, Inc. Brubaker’s FINRA Broker Report indicates that these customer complaints also involved Brubaker’s fraudulent misrepresentation of bearer bonds in violation of various securities laws.

Bearer bonds are a debt security issued by a business entity, such as a corporation, or by a government. Bearer bonds differ from the more common types of investment securities in that it is unregistered – no records are kept of the owner, or the transactions involving ownership (i.e. whoever physically holds the paper on which the bond is issued owns the instrument). This can be useful for investors who wish to retain anonymity, but can also be very risky for investors because the recovery of the value of a bearer bond in the event of its loss, theft, or destruction is usually impossible.

If you have questions about investments you made with Steve Brubaker or Woodbury Financial Services, Inc., 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 to a securities attorney, please call our Chicago office at 312-238-9650 for a free consultation.

The White Law Group 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, visit https://whitesecuritieslaw.com.