Let’s face it—most people absolutely trust their financial advisor. Investors have told the financial advisor everything about their financial life. But, when you lose your future because of the mishandling of your account, we can help you recover those losses.
A broker and his or her firm have a duty to place you in investments that are suitable to you and your individual circumstances. When they fail to do so, you have legal recourse.
If you are a victim of securities fraud or broker misconduct, you have a choice--fighting back or doing nothing. A blow to your financial investments is shocking, but you are most likely not at fault. We want to help you recover your losses. We can start the process with a free consultation.
Extensive experience in securities arbitrations.
We offer a free consultation to better understand you and your potential case.
Click this link to check out your stockbroker through FINRA.
Investments that were not proper for your investment objectives.
They lied to you about the investment or expected returns.
They did not look out for your interests and acted imporperly.
They acted in their own intestes and not yours.
They sold you too much of a single product.
Over trading just to generate commissions.
Making trades without your knowledge or permission.
Taking your money to pay previous investors.
Broker did not have the proper liscenes to sell the inveestments
This is a special page for questions that you might have about investing and how we can help.
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The broker has a duty to recommend only suitable investments to the customer, based on that particular customer's facts and circumstances. Suitable investments are those investments that take into account the investor's age, income, and risk tolerance. The broker must understand the risk which an investor can assume, prior investment experience, and the tax consequences of the investment. In the event that the broker makes unsuitable investment recommendations, the broker and the brokerage firm may be liable to the customer for losses associated with such unsuitable investments.
The broker must be honest with the customer. In the event that the broker misrepresents material facts or fails to disclose material facts to the customer in the sale of investments, the broker and his firm may be liable for losses.
A broker owes the customer a duty of "reasonable care" in the handling of the account. If the broker falls below this standard, then there may be a claim for negligence. Your broker should have explained to you the risks associated with your investments. If this was not done, you may have a claim.
If the broker has discretionary control over your account, giving him the freedom to make investments without consulting you, he may have a fiduciary duty to you. A fiduciary duty imposes much stricter liability and responsibility upon the broker.
When an investment portfolio is over concentrated in any individual investment or type of investment, then the risk of loss is increased should that investment decrease in value. The broker has a duty to explain to the customer the risk associated with over concentration. If losses occur, you may have a claim.
When the customer has losses on transactions made without prior approval, the broker may be liable for such losses. However, the investor must report such unauthorized transactions to the brokerage firm upon discovery of the transactions, usually through the examination of monthly statements or confirmations.
When the broker engages in excessive trading in order to generate commissions in an account, you may have a churning violation. Usually, churning is evident when there is little or no reason for trades other than generating commission income to the broker.
When the broker sells the customer an "investment" outside the investment products offered by the brokerage firm, you may have a selling away case. These cases usually involve investments in private limited partnerships, privately held companies, promissory notes, and real estate. In order to hold the brokerage firm liable, you must usually show a lack of supervision.
Brokers and brokerage firms must be registered to sell securities to residents of the particular state under the Blue Sky Laws of most states. If the broker is not registered to sell a security in a particular state, the customer who bought such a security may have a claim against that broker and brokerage firm for their non-compliance with the registration regulations. Likewise, the security being sold must be registered in most states, unless exempt.
In the usual Ponzi scheme, the investor is promised a huge return on their money over a short period of time. There may be “guaranteed” rates of return that are double or triple what is available in the legitimate market. The schemers behind the Ponzi scheme may go to great lengths to make the program look like a legitimate multi-level marketing program. But despite their claims to have legitimate products or services to sell, these schemers simply use money coming in from new recruits to pay off early stage investors. Eventually the pyramid will collapse. Usually the Ponzi schemes get large, the new investors are harder to recruit to pay the promised return to earlier investors, and many people lose their money.
Product cases are cases in which one or more of the asserted claims center around allegations regarding the widespread mismarketing or defective development of a specific security or specific group of securities. Product cases typically revolve around a brokerage firm’s: creation of a product; due diligence reviews of the product; training or marketing of a product; or post-approval review of a product.
Although there are some limitations, we believe that each loss from broker misconduct is important. The loss by a widow living on Social Security is just as important as a loss by a multi-millionaire businessman. Each situation is unique, and we work to represent the client no matter what size of the damages.
Get SupportYour investments have occured losses due to the advice of your Stockbroker.
Trading is the way many brokers make money, so often times the trade is in the brokers interest and not yours.
Annuities are high commission, high cost and underperforming investments. These often sold because of the firms interests.
Calls and Put options can be very volitile investments and can add substaintial risk and costs.
Borrowing money to invest adds costs, leverage and increases the risk to an investment account. It also allows the broker to do more trading and make more commissions.
If they can not Price an investment that is a sign of something very wrong. It also could mean this is an illiquid investment that would be difficult to sell.
Just like unpriced issues firms will also show investments at purchase value when they can not find or do not know the actual values.
If broker refuses to execute a trade this could mean they are not acting in your interest. Or there is a problem with the underlying issue.
If you only own a few investments it could mean your are undiversified and over concentrated in single areas of the market.
Any trades you did not know about or Authorize.
These are low priced investments (usually below $10 ) in small companies listed on the OTC or Pink Sheets..
If they sell you something that is not regiesterd with the SEC or state authorities.
If the firm sends you letters asking you to sign things about your account and investment objectives.
This website is dedicated to helping wronged investors find justice against Stockbrokers and Wall Street.
It is sponsored by the law firm of Herbert E. Pounds, Jr., P.C..
Go to Firm WebsiteHerbert E. Pounds has represented individuals in Securities Arbitration as well as specializing Estate Planning, Probate, Commercial Real Estate, Business and Corporate Law.
Herb is a member of the State Bar of Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Accounting, and he received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.
People generally worry that if they call an attorney, they will start incurring legal fees when just discussing their situation with the attorney. We will give you a free consultation. The purpose of the free consultation is twofold: (1) we want to make sure that your case has merit and that we are equipped to handle your case; and (2) we want to make sure that there is a fit between the attorney and the client. The first step generally starts with a telephone call to determine if it is necessary to have a face-to-face meeting at which we will examine your legal problem in more detail. At this personal meeting, if necessary, we will discuss our recommended approach to your legal problem. There is never any obligation on the part of either you or the attorney until both parties decide that they desire to go forward.
Get AppointmentIn case you want to figure out your investment performance before taking action this site and help you analyze your activity. This service can qualitify all the activity of your account - even if you are not looking to sue your stockbroker.
Get More InformationPlease contact us with any questions you might have.
We are always happy to assist you with your investment issues and answer any questions and concerns you might have.
17890 Blanco Road, Suite 100
San Antonio, Texas 78232
(210) 492-7627
wal.sdnuop@breh
www.pounds.law
