Since being dubbed the “800-pound gorilla,” AdvisorLaw has absolutely dominated the FINRA arbitration landscape. We are responsible for more advisor-initiated expungements than the rest of the entire industry, combined. Over the last six years, we’ve expunged more than 1,800 meritless disclosures from financial professionals’ CRD, BrokerCheck, and IAPD records. Around this time last year, AdvisorLaw was able to use National Expungement Week as a springboard to help …
Never Settle for Firm Representation During FINRA Arbitration
You have recently been named as a respondent in a FINRA arbitration filed by a customer against you and your firm. What should you do? The answer is simple: hire your own attorney. You might believe that you can get by without your own representation. After all, being represented by the firm’s attorney is less expensive, and the firm appears to be on your side. While that could be true, an inherent conflict exists that’s not always clear, and it boils down to how FINRA’s customer complaint reporting requirements differ for advisors, versus broker-dealers.
Customer Dispute Expungement Through FINRA Arbitration
When a broker-dealer files a Form U4 or U5 with the Central Registration Depository (CRD), customer disputes, terminations, and other disclosures become part of an advisor’s public record and appear both on the advisor’s CRD record, as well as their BrokerCheck profile.
What Triggers a FINRA Inquiry?
FINRA inquiries are primarily triggered by disclosures on the Forms U4 and U5. Many of these disclosures stem from allegations made by a customer or broker-dealer. Some disclosures are financial, and they reference liens or disputes. Others reference arbitrations or judgments against the advisor. When a disclosure is published, and it contains information that leads FINRA to believe that a securities regulation, rule, or industry standard of conduct was violated, FINRA will investigate. Additional sources of FINRA inquiries include referrals from regulatory agencies such as the SEC or state securities boards, cycle examinations of a firm or product, and FINRA’s massive proprietary surveillance programs.
How Will FINRA Rule 4111 Affect Financial Advisors?
Have you ever heard of Rule 4111? Unless you’re an officer at your firm, it’s unlikely that you have. As AdvisorLaw exclusively represents individual financial advisors, we typically have little reason to comment on a proposed FINRA rule that will apply to broker-dealers. However, when that rule is going to significantly affect small firms’ decisions of whether to retain certain financial representatives, it’s time to educate and inform.
$1 million in tax liability resolved by Offer in Compromise
Tax Lien Resolution & Expungement Over $1 Million In Tax Liability Resolved By Offer In Compromise Expungement Award Date: March 10, 2021FINRA Hearing Site: N/AFINRA Respondent Firm: Internal Revenue Service (IRS)FINRA Claimant Representative: Dochtor Kennedy, MBA, J.D., AdvisorLaw, LLC Case Objective: A financial advisor accrued $1,106,032.35 in IRS tax liability over the course of several years. The advisor hired AdvisorLaw …