The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker Nicolas Barrios. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Nicolas Barrious has been the subject of a customer dispute.
Nicolas Barrios was a Florida based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for twenty-eight years. During his career, he was registered with five different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.
His Registrations
- Chatfield Dean & Co. (1991)
- Merrill Lynch (1991-1999)
- First Union Brokerage Services (1999-2000)
- Wachovia Securities (2000-2008)
- UBS Financial Services (2008-2019)
The Allegations
Nicolas Barrios’ publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report shows that he is currently the subject of a pending customer complaint. In April 2019, a customer’s beneficiaries alleged that Nicolas Barrios placed her in stocks far too risky for her age. The beneficiaries further alleged that Barrios took the customer’s money and used it to purchase securities outside the scope of UBS. It was alleged that the customer in question did not authorize these outside trades. She was under the impression that her money was safe.
Nicolas Barrios was discharged from his position at UBS Financial Services two days after he received the above mentioned complaint. The firm alleged that Barrios invested multiple customers in the unapproved private security mentioned above. He allegedly did this without approval from UBS and even used his personal email set up the deals in order to avoid detection from UBS.
FINRA eventually opened up an investigation into the allegations that he committed fraud regarding the above mentioned customer’s account. During the investigation, Nicolas Barrios allegedly failed to provide FINRA with the documents and information they had requested of him and thus barred him from acting as a securities broker in any fashion.
What Does This Mean?
Securities brokers such as Nicolas Barrios are not allowed to engage in an private securities transactions without first obtaining their member firm’s authorization. This is because these types of transactions are often accompanied by significant conflict’s of interest that cause brokers to recommended private securities to investors that are woefully unsuited for them. It is the securities firm’s job to prevent this type of thing from occurring as a result of one of their registered broker’s unauthorized activity. They are not absolved from liability simply because the broker forgoes the procedure of disclosing this information. Firms need to adequately supervise their registered brokers so that they can notice any unauthorized activity and in turn prevent their customers from being harmed in this fashion.
Oakes & Fosher Can Help
Many investors are unaware of the legal recourse available to them after losing money due to securities broker fraud and/or negligence. The truth is that investors who have lost money in this fashion may actually be entitled to damages.
Oakes & Fosher dedicates its entire legal practice to helping investors across the nation. If you, or someone you know, have lost money investing with Nicolas Barrios, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation. Oakes & Fosher handles cases on a contingency basis, which means there are no fees charged unless we collect for you.
