Skip to main content

Blog

FINRA’s Changes to the Expungement Rules won’t Stop Brokers from Winning

Last year, FINRA moved closer to finalizing several proposed rule changes to the process available to financial advisors to seek expungement of customer complaint information from their BrokerCheck records. For years, FINRA has tried to limit the frequency that financial advisors win their expungement cases. Advocates of more stringent expungement rules cite a high success […]

Read More

Unauthorized Trading – Recognizing Unapproved Transactions

With limited exceptions, a financial advisor must gain approval from the investor before he can recommend a trade (i.e. the purchase or sale of a security) in a brokerage account. The rules about what is considered sufficient approval of a transaction in a brokerage account are narrow. And investors should understand the correct process to […]

Read More

Understanding How Your Financial Advisor Gets Paid

Investors should always inquire with their financial advisor about the fees charged for managing brokerage accounts. In general, there are two ways a financial advisor gets paid: (1) the financial advisor can charge an annual fee on the total assets invested; or (2) a financial advisor can charge commissions on a transactional basis. Commission-based accounts […]

Read More

Investigating The Crosby Investment Group & IFG for Account Mismanagement.

January 25, 2023 The Law Offices of Patrick R. Mahoney, P.C. (“PRM”) represents former clients of The Crosby Investment Group and Independent Financial Group, LLC (“IFG”). PRM’s clients have alleged they were the victims of account mismanagement, including excessive trading and other unsuitable transactions in their brokerage accounts. PRM’s clients have also alleged that some […]

Read More

Pro Athletes Say They Wanted Everyday Financial Advice but Got Cheated

February 22, 2022 New York Times David W. Chen Around the time that Lauren Holiday helped the United States soccer team win the 2015 Women’s World Cup, she and her husband, Jrue Holiday, the N.B.A. player, visited the Southern California office of a securities broker who had come highly recommended for making prudent long-term investments. […]

Read More

No End in Sight for American Oil Investors

Russia and Saudi Arabia’s oil price war rages on.  Both countries continue to produce oil, increasing the world’s supply–so much so that that world is having trouble storing it.  And the longer this war rages, American oil producers’ situation worsens on the heels of United States’ recent coronation as the world’s top oil producer.  The […]

Read More

“ETRACS” Investors Face Losses

The Law Offices of Patrick R. Mahoney, P.C. is investigating possible sales practice violations, including but not limited to failing to disclose material risks associated with ETRACS. ETRACS Exchange Traded Notes are senior, unsecured, unsubordinated debt securities that are designed to track the total return of a specific market index. Exchange-Traded Notes (“ETNs”) different from Exchange-Traded […]

Read More

Private Investments Tied to Commercial Real Estate Likely to Plummet

Private investments tied to commercial real estate and commercial mortgages will plummet (if they haven’t already).  Investors exposed to these products should take notice. What is a Private Investment? Private investments are typically illiquid; meaning they do not have a public marketplace (like the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ) through which an investor can […]

Read More

Oil and Gas Closed End Funds are Getting Crushed

The Wall Street Journal recently reported in the article, The Oil Crash is Hitting this Investment Hard, “the plunge in crude-oil prices is sending shock waves through closed-end funds tracking the energy sector, highlighting how the market turmoil is hitting products popular with ordinary investors seeking to boost returns during the long bull market.” Goldman […]

Read More

Corporate Bond Investors Face Losses

With historically low interest rates before the Corona Crises, corporate debt has skyrocketed.  According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Nonfinancial Corporate Business Debt has eclipsed $6.5 TRILLION.  Low interest rates have given rise to “zombie corporations.”  A “zombie corporation” only generates enough revenue to service its own debt, and as a result, […]

Read More