South Florida Arbitration & Litigation Lawyer Blog
FINRA Municipal and Corporate Bond Fraud Arbitration Attorney, Russell L. Forkey, Esq.
July, 2011:
The GMS Group, LLC (CRD #8000, Livingston, New Jersey) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $50,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that at various times it failed to deliver official statements by settlement date to numerous customers who had purchased new issue municipal securities during the primary offering disclosure period. The findings stated that in all of these transactions, the firm was neither an underwriter, nor part of the underwriting syndicate but was required to deliver an official statement to each customer by the settlement date because the obligation to deliver the official statement is not limited to the underwriters of the municipal bond issue, but also to firms not participating in the offering that sell the municipal securities during the primary offering period and to secondary market transactions during that period. The findings also stated that the firm failed to enforce its WSPs pertaining to its official statement delivery requirements to customers who purchased new issue municipal securities for secondary market transactions that occurred during the primary offering disclosure period, including those transactions in which the firm was not an underwriter, nor part of the underwriting syndicate, as required by MSRB Rule G-32. (FINRA Case #2009017280701).