Securities Fraud Lawyer Blog
Pete Lappin suspended by FINRA
In December, 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Pete Lappin of Las Vegas, Nevada, a registered representative formerly with MetLife Securities, New England Securities and Wedbush Securities submitted an acceptance, waiver and consent letter whereby he was suspended from association with any FINRA member for three months, and ordered to pay restitution to customers. The suspension was effective October, 2016 through January, 2017
The FINRA complaint asserted that Pete Lappin recommended unit investment trusts to clients using an unsuitable short term strategy that increased the costs to his customers. UITs are designed to be longer term investments, and FINRA found that Lappin’s clients held the UITs for a little over three months, thereby increasing costs, and in some cases, causing losses.
Registration and disciplinary history
In order to lawfully sell investments to the public, a registered rep must either be registered or exempt from registration. Pete Lappin was registered with:
MeltlIfe Securities from January, 2015 to February, 2015
New England Securities from June, 2011 to January, 2015
Wedbush Securities from JUne, 2006 to June, 2011
According to FINRA’s CRD disclosure report, Pete Lappin has been the subject of five customer complaints and one regulatory investigation. One customer dispute involving conduct attributable to Lappin went to arbitration, where the customer was awarded $37,187. In another matter involving Lappin, his broker dealer settled a case involving alleged unauthorized trading and unsuitable investments for $206,000
The Law Office of David Liebrader practices exclusively in the field of investment loss recovery. For the past 23 years, we have dedicated our law practice to assisting investors who have been victims of investment fraud via fraudulent and unsuitable investment transactions. During that time we have recovered money for over one thousand individuals, pension plans, trusts and companies. The recoveries we have obtained via judgments, awards and settlements on behalf of our clients exceed $40,000,000.
When investors contact our firm they can expect prompt attention, and a detailed analysis of their issues. Typical claims that we are asked to review involve “unsuitability (where a financial advisor makes investment recommendations that are inconsistent with a customer’s investment objectives), claims for “churning” (where a broker enters into an excessive number of trades for the purpose of generating commissions), claims involving illiquid investments such as private placements (I.e., real estate investment trusts, limited partnerships, equipment leasing and oil and gas drilling programs) as well as claims for violations of state securities laws, which often provide investors remedies like attorney’s fees and interest, if they are successful on the claim.
If you suspect that you have been the victim of investment fraud, or had a financial advisor recommend unsuitable investments to you, call us today for a free, confidential consultation at (702) 380-3131.