South Florida Arbitration & Litigation Lawyer Blog
Solicitation of Investment Clients by Broker/Dealers and Investment Objectives Through the Use of Radio and Television Programing – South Florida False and Misleading Advertising FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) is a self-regulatory authority assigned the responsibility, by the Securities and Exchange Commission, to license, regulate and discipline securities broker/dealers and their employees, including account executives. In the event that FINRA elects to institute and enforcement action, firms and licensed individuals have the responsibility to reflect such action of their U-4 and/or U-5 filings, which can be viewed on the FINRA website under the broker-check section of the site or by viewing the monthly disciplinary information also provided on the FINRA site.
The monthly disciplinary information is referenced on the site generally in alphabetical order. This post relates to the following company or individuals. If the reader would like to review the entire FINRA release or the broker-check information concerning this matter, you can follow these highlighted links:
August 2013 Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions
Broker Check: http://www.finra.org/Investors/ToolsCalculators/BrokerCheck/
Manny Aizen a/k/a Manuel Aizen (CRD #1676247, Registered Principal, Dallas, Texas), Edward Michael Milkie (CRD #871257, Registered Principal, Dallas, Texas) and Daniel Edward Levin (CRD #707280, Registered Representative, Dallas, Texas) submitted Offers of Settlement in which they were each fined $30,000. Aizen and Milkie were each suspended for association with any FINRA member in any principal capacity for six months. The fines must be paid either immediately upon their reassociation with a FINRA member firm following their suspensions, or prior to the filing of any application or request for relief from any statutuory disqualification, whichever is earlier. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Aizen, Milkie and Levin consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that Levin made unwarranted and misleading statements and claims concerning investment products on radio shows, and made unbalanced statements on their member firm’s website regarding life settlements. FINRA Case No. 2009016271801. To review the entire FINRA release relative to this matter, please follow one of the above referenced links.
Over the years, mass media such as television and radio programs have been used by brokerage and/or account executives to attempt to generate new clients for themselves or interest in specific forms of product. As such, all information provided during the program must be accurate in all material respects and must not omit any information which would make the statements misleading.
In order for an account executive, to become involved in such a television or radio program, he or she must get approval from their broker/dealer to engage in such activity, who then has the responsibility to reasonably monitor the program. In order to establish guidelines relating to the approval process and its continuing supervisory responsibilities, the broker-dealer must establish and implement a reasonable written supervisory system to safeguard customer assets. If the brokerage firm fails in its duty to reasonably supervise the account executive’s activity during this activity, the firm may be liable to the client for any losses associated with such activity.
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