On October 24, 2014, the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA), an international bar association comprised of attorneys dedicated to the representation of individual investors in disputes with the securities industry, announced the 2014 PIABA Distinguished Service Award recipient, Brian N. Smiley. Brian is a former president of PIABA and member of its board of […]
Wells Fargo Broker and Poet Sanctioned for Defrauding Widow
Adorean Boleancu was a Wells Fargo Private Banker and Senior Vice President who the San Francisco Sentinel described in 2008 as the “Hottest Financial Advisor to the Swells.” One of his clients (but maybe not one of the “Swells”) was a woman the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) characterized as an elderly, inexperienced and unsophisticated […]
TICs That Bite Investors
Smiley Bishop & Porter is pursuing claims against stock brokerage firms that made unsuitable recommendations that their clients invest in tenancy in common (TIC) properties. A TIC is a form of property ownership in which several people individually own an undivided part of an entire income producing property like an office building, warehouse or retail […]
FINRA Head Explains Perils of Complex Investment Products
Richard G. Ketchum, Chairman and CEO of FINRA, appeared before the securities industry trade group SIFMA at its Complex Products Forum on September 27, 2012 in New York to admonish brokerage firms about the perils and obligations involved in marketing complex investment products to investors. According to Ketchum, while there is no legal definition of […]
Smiley Speaks at U.S. Dept. of Labor Investment Forum
On April 28, 2012, Brian Smiley was a guest presenter at a public forum on “African Americans & Retirement” sponsored by the Economics Department at Spelman College and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. Brian spoke on “How to Avoid Being a Victim of Investment Rip-offs & Frauds.” The forum was moderated […]
Houston & Lett v. Wells Fargo Advisors
(FINRA, 2011) Elderly Investor Recovers Losses Tied to UIT After a four day hearing, a panel of FINRA arbitrators awarded $130,000.00 in compensatory damages to our clients. The damages were for losses incurred by an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s disease whose funds were invested primarily in high-risk securities, including a Claymore Unit Investment Trust (“UIT”).
What’s a UIT?
With apologies to “My Cousin Vinnie,” a UIT is a Unit Investment Trust. UITs are investment products that brokers love to sell and investors should avoid. UITs are portfolios of stocks, bonds, or mutual funds which are assembled by trustees and then sold in units consisting of a portion of all of the assets in […]
