Securities Fraud Lawyer Blog
On March, 26, 2015 Merrion Securities, LLC of Westfield, New Jersey was censured and fined $15,000 by FINRA. While neither admitting nor denying the findings, Merrion Securities consented to FINRA’s findings that Merrion Seurities failed to maintain investor funds in an approved fashion, by not depositing the funds into an approved escrow account. The matter referred to private securities offering by a company called Vir2us, which was looking to raise $2 million. Per FINRA rules, funds raised by a FINRA licensed broker dealer in an offering have to be deposited into a designated escrow account, and not comingled. Rather than do this, the findings state that Merrion Securities allowed the funds to be directed to the company, and then to an attorney’s trust account. When the Vir2us offering raised less than the $2 million contemplated, the company lowered the contingent offering amount to $1million, at which time Merrion Securities was obligated to terminate the the offering and return investor funds.
Merrion Securities’ registration and disciplinary history
Merrion Securities is registered with the SEC, FINRA and in 20 states.
According to FINRA’s CRD disclosure report, Merrion Securities has been the subject of six regulatory investigations.
The Law Office of David Liebrader practices exclusively in the field of investment loss recovery and our securities attorneys have successfully resolved over 1000 investment loss cases over the past 20 years. Recoveries for clients top $40 million. The types of claims we have successfully handled include those involving unsuitable investments (suitability claims), excessive trading or “churning”, misrepresentations and omissions, unauthorized trading, over-concentration of illiquid or overly risky investments, pump and dump scams involving “penny stocks”, direct participation programs (private placements) involving real estate investment trusts (REITS), oil and gas exploration programs, leasing equipment deals and receivable financing, promissory notes whether sold through a broker dealer or as part of the outside business activities of a registered representative, ponzi scheme losses, failure on the part of the broker dealer to perform due diligence, state securities law (blue sky) violations and failure to supervise.
Investment losses can be recovered through a process known as FINRA arbitration. FINRA regulates broker dealers that sell investments, and provides an arbitration forum to resolve investor disputes. Investors can pursue claims against their brokerage firms in the FINRA arbitration forum. Common claims in the forum are those for suitability, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentations and omissions, negligence, violation of FINRA rules, state and federal securities laws violations, elder abuse, breach of contract and failure to supervise. On average, the recovery process takes approximately a year, from start to finish.
FINRA’s rules require that all investment recommendations made by licensed financial advisors be suitable in light of a customer’s needs, objectives and risk tolerance. In addition, all registered representatives are required to be properly supervised, with periodic inspections and reviews by qualified supervisors, whose job it is to vigorously investigate suspicions of wrongdoing (red flags).
If you have suffered investment losses please call The Law Office of David Liebrader at (702) 380-3131 for a free, confidential consultation