Your broker is required to perform adequate diligence and determine if your investments are suitable for you. Unfortunately, many brokers fail to do so.

If you invest in stocks, bonds, variable annuities, limited partnerships, mutual funds or certain commodities and you have experienced problems or unexpected losses, you may be a victim of investment broker fraud.

We help you recover your investment losses caused by broker violations relating to fraud.

Churning

An unethical practice employed by some brokers to increase their commissions is by excessively trading in a client’s account. It is also referred to as churn and burn or twisting and overtrading.

Bucketing

A situation where in an attempt to make a short term profit, a broker confirms an order to a client without actually executing it. If the eventual price that the order is executed at is higher than the price available when the order was submitted, the customer simply pays the higher price. On the other hand, if the execution price is lower than the price available when the order was submitted, the customer pays the higher price and the brokerage firm pockets the difference.

Front Running

The unethical practice of a broker trading an equity based on information from the analyst department before his or her client have been given the information. An example is when an analyst or broker buy up shares in a company just before the brokerage firm is about to recommend the stock as a strong buy.

Circular Trading

A fraudulent trading scheme where sell orders are entered by a broker who knows that offsetting buy orders, the same number of shares at the same time and at the same price, either have been or will be entered. These trades do not represent a real change in the beneficial ownership of the security.

The unlawful practice of adding an extra broker/dealer as a principal on a trade, even if no service is provided. Typically inter positioning is done as part of a mutual benefit strategy, sending commission to the brokers/dealers in exchange for referrals or the other cash profit. This type of behaviour occurs at the upper levels of trade between specialists and brokers/dealers, hedge funds or other institutional accounts, inter positioning violates the investment Act of 1940.

Tailgating

When a broker or advisor buys or sells a security for a client and then immediately makes the same transaction in his or her own account.

Guilt Edged Investment

A transaction that makes money by unethical means. Culprits supposedly feel guilty having made money in such an unscrupulous way.

Portfolio Pumping

The illegal act of bidding up the value of a fund’s holdings right before the end of a quarter when the fund’s performance is measured. This is done by placing a large number of orders on existing holdings, which drives up the value of the fund tremendously.

Poop and Scoop

A highly illegal practice occurring mainly on the internet. A small group of informed people attempt to push down a stock by spreading false information and rumours. If they are successful, they can purchase the stock at bargain prices.

Bear Raid

The illegal practice of attempting to drive the price of a stock lower by taking large short positions and spreading unfavourable rumours about the target firm. If you have lost a substantial amount of money following your stockbroker or financial advisor’s advice to invest in mutual funds that only make money when the stock market goes down, please call us so we can assist you in recovering your investment losses through securities arbitration.

There is no fee to review a potential claim. We will spend whatever time is necessary at our expense, to analyse your case and determine whether we can recover your investment losses.