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Monthly Archives: September 2015

FINRA Issues Guidance for Puerto Rico Bond Loss Claims

Over the past several months, FINRA has received an influx of arbitration case filings related to Puerto Rico bonds. Most cases are filed by Puerto Rico residents. FINRA held various conversations and meetings concerning administration of these cases. After careful consideration, FINRA determined to issue the following guidance:

Venue:

FINRA will determine venue in the Puerto Rico bond cases in accordance with Rule 12213 of the Customer Code of Arbitration Procedure (the “Code”) which states in relevant part that “the Director will select the hearing location closest to the customer’s residence at the time of the events giving rise to the dispute . . . .” FINRA cases generally are venued where the customer resides, the transactions took place, and the witnesses are located. These criteria all point to Puerto Rico as the appropriate venue.
Accordingly, FINRA will not modify its existing venue rule and procedures absent the agreement of the parties.

FINRA will follow Rule 12213 in assigning venue for the following reasons:

• FINRA’s longstanding rule and policies, which were codified in 2007, were designed for the convenience and protection of customers;
• The solicitations and transactions in these cases took place in Puerto Rico;
• Many Claimants in these cases are elderly and travel to the continental United States would be difficult, burdensome and expensive;
• Many Claimants’ attorneys are located in Puerto Rico and requested venue in Puerto Rico;
• Many named individual associated person Respondents are located in Puerto Rico;
• Almost all potential witnesses are located in Puerto Rico, including non-party witnesses;
• Compelling non-party witnesses located in Puerto Rico to testify at arbitrations in the continental United States may be difficult;
• The total expenses, including Claimant and witness travel, of requiring individuals from Puerto Rico to travel to the United States would be substantial.

FINRA will continue to allow customers with more than one residence to choose venue based on the location of any of their residences. Further, if all parties in an arbitration case agree in writing to a hearing location other than one based on the customer’s residence, FINRA will select that hearing venue.

Arbitrator Pools:

FINRA will initially provide arbitrators for the cases venued in Puerto Rico from Puerto Rico and from other hearing locations within the Southeast Region and Texas. Counsel for Claimants and Respondents were in agreement that this was the area from which to seek arbitrators to expand the available roster in Puerto Rico.

FINRA has expanded the available pool of arbitrators to serve in Puerto Rico from these states and FINRA will pay their travel expenses. To date, approximately 700 currently eligible arbitrators on the FINRA roster have agreed to serve in Puerto Rico. FINRA continues to expand the available pool of Puerto Rico arbitrators willing to serve. Additionally, FINRA is actively recruiting and training arbitrators who reside in Puerto Rico. As a reminder, parties retain the option to agree to modify the provisions of Rule 12401 to have a sole public arbitrator decide their case, as opposed to a three arbitrator panel, even in cases in which the amount in controversy exceeds $100,000.00.

Interpreter Services:

FINRA arbitration hearings generally are conducted in English. However, FINRA recognizes that Spanish is the primary language in Puerto Rico and that many Claimants are not conversant in English. Therefore, at FINRA’s request, the following firms have agreed to bear the costs of consecutive translation services in the Puerto Rico bond fund cases venued in Puerto Rico in which these firms are a named Respondent and Claimant or Claimant’s witnesses are not fluent in English and translation is necessary: UBS, Merrill Lynch, Santander Securities and Popular Securities. In addition, Oriental Financial Services has agreed to consider bearing such costs on a case-by-case basis upon request. Customer-Claimants should make arrangements directly with counsel for these firms regarding translation services. Please note that the agreement is to bear costs of translation when it is necessary, and any disagreements between the parties regarding interpreter services shall be addressed by the arbitration panels.

The Customer Code of Arbitration, Code of Mediation, Uniform Forms Guide, Resources for Parties Representing Themselves and Filing a Claim–Frequently Asked Questions are available in Spanish on FINRA’s website.

FINRA is providing this information and the translation of the above-mentioned documents in Spanish as a service to the customers who use or would like to use its forum. If you have questions concerning the meaning or application of a particular rule or law, please consult with an attorney who specializes in securities law. The English versions of the FINRA Dispute Resolution Codes serve as the official versions of our rules.

Additional Information

Service of Arbitrators:

Counsel for Claimants and Respondents have agreed that FINRA should not limit the service of arbitrators who have previously served on a case involving Puerto Rico bonds through Award. Parties, of course, have available to them the FINRA rules on causal challenges and the Director’s authority to remove an arbitrator as set forth in Rule 12407.

Costs of Witnesses:
Witness costs will be minimized by setting venue in Puerto Rico, where almost all of the likely witnesses are located. Therefore, FINRA will follow its existing rules concerning witness costs.

Disclosures:
The arbitrators will be asked to answer an agreed upon set of disclosure questions submitted by the parties as part of the list selection process in order to alert the parties to possible conflicts.
Please also note that any party may request additional information from an arbitrator whose name appears on the arbitrator ranking form. If a party requests additional information about an arbitrator, FINRA will request the additional information from the arbitrator, and will send any response to all of the parties at the same time.

SEC Charges Clearing Firm Officials for Improper Margin Loans, Accounting and Disclosure Failures

On September 17, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it was charging four former Penson Financial Services officials for their roles in a series of accounting and disclosure failures related to decisions to extend credit to certain customers beyond what is allowed under the federal securities laws.

Through the SEC’s investigation, it was found that Penson Financial Services provided customers nearly $100 million in margin loans secured mostly by risky, unrated municipal bonds, including some funding a horse racetrack in Texas. The loans to the customers, including the ones used to fund the racetrack’s operations, became impaired in the wake of the financial crisis. Instead of following industry standards and liquidating the collateral, accounting properly for the loan losses and disclosing the situation to its investors, Penson officials extended more loans to the same customers in hopes that their financial condition would improve and they could pay off the loans. By doing so, Penson violated the federal margin regulations. Penson’s eventual accounting and disclosures of the loan losses that reached $60 million contributed to the firm’s demise and bankruptcy filing in 2013.

The Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said in a statement “Penson took on extraordinary risks as a broker-dealer by making margin loans to certain customers backed by speculative collateral…When these loans became impaired, Penson’s leadership improperly placed more of Penson’s critical capital at risk to bail out these customers instead of timely recording the losses and disclosing the truth about the loans to investors.” The Penson officials involved in the loans agreed to settle the charges in administrative proceedings without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings.

SEC Announces Fraud Charges Against Financial Adviser for Greatly Exaggerating Assets under Management and Investment Returns

On September 9, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that they were bringing fraud charges against a Maryland-based financial services firm and its founder/CEO. Dawn J. Bennett, personally, and as CEO of the Bennett Group Financial Services, allegedly made material misstatements and omissions between 2009–2011. In an effort to attract new clients to her fledgling investment advisory business, Bennett lured new clients with claims of industry success and impressive investment returns.

Bennett and her firm knowingly made misstatements about their managed assets to three media organizations. As a result, the media organizations ranked Bennett fifth in the category of “top 100 Women Financial Advisors” and second in its listing of the “2011 Top Advisor” in Washington DC. Bennett used these distinctions to publicize her success to existing and prospective clients. In 2010, the Bennett Group paid to appear in a weekly radio show on an AM radio station in the Washington D.C. area. Bennett hosted the radio show called Financial Myth Busting with Dawn Bennett. She also determined all of the show’s content. Bennett used this platform to falsely claim that she and the Bennett Group managed assets ranging from $1.5 billion to more than $2 billion. In reality Bennett and the Bennett Group did not provide any form of management for assets exceeding approximately $407 million. Additionally, Bennett touted the Bennett Group’s investment returns and performance during the radio show’s broadcast. However, she failed to disclose that the returns were calculated for a model portfolio, in which only a small portion of her customers participated. The same fraudulent claims were published on the radio show’s Facebook page.

During the SEC’s investigation, Bennett and her firm made additional false statements in an effort to substantiate their prior fraudulent claims about the amount of managed assets. Bennett and her firm falsely asserted that they gave advice about short term cash management to three corporate clients regarding more than $1.5 billion in corporate assets. In reality, they never provided such advice. The matter will be scheduled for a public hearing before an administrative law judge for proceedings to adjudicate the Enforcement Division’s allegations and determine what, if any, remedial actions are appropriate. The Director of the SEC’s Philadelphia Regional office said “The investing public is entitled to a level of confidence that information they receive about brokerage and advisory services is accurate, and this case shows that so-called financial experts on the radio are often merely advertisers who may not be doing so truthfully.”