Andre Davis Allegedly Churns His Clients’ Accounts

The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of securities broker Andre Davis. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Andre Davis has been the subject of multiple customer disputes.

Andre Davis is a New Jersey based securities broker. He has worked in the securities industry for eighteen years. During his career, he has been registered with nine different securities firms.

His Registrations

• J.W. Barclay & Company (2000)


• First Montauk Securities (2000-2004)


• LH Ross & Company (2004)


• Newbridge Securities (2004-2010)


• Brookstone Securities (2010-2012)


• National Securities Corporation (2012-2015)


• First Standard Financial Company (2015-2019)


• Paulson Investment Company (2019-Present)

The Allegations

• In July 2010, a customer alleged that Andre Davis executed unauthorized transactions, recommended unsuitable investments, engaged in excessive trading, charged them excessive commissions, and made material misrepresentations related to his accounts. This case was settled for $12,500 in damages.


• In December 2010, a customer alleged that Andre Davis executed unsuitable transactions, made material misrepresentations, churned their account, charged them excessive commissions, breached his fiduciary duty, and failed to follow instructions. This case was settled for $135,000 in damages.


• In August 2011, a claimant alleged that Andre Davis misrepresented investments to them. They also alleged that he guaranteed the investments against loss. The alleged transgressions taking place between January and April of 2010. This case was settled for $11,000.


• In July 2018, a customer alleged that Andre Davis churned their account and recommended unsuitable securities. This case was settled for $35,000 in damages.


• In February 2019, a customer alleged that Andre Davis executed unauthorized trades and recommended unsuitable securities. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $668,000 in damages.


• In April 2019, a customer alleged that Andre Davis excessively traded their account and recommended unsuitable securities. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $238,135 in damages.


• In May 2019, a customer alleged that Andre Davis engaged in unauthorized trading, excessively traded their account, and recommended unsuitable securities. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $461,000 in damages.


• In June 2019, a customer alleged that Andre Davis churned their account and executed unauthorized trades. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $152,400 in damages.


• In August 2019, another customer alleged that Andre Davis excessively traded their account, recommended unsuitable investments, and engaged in unauthorized trading. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $350,000 in damages.

Unsuitable Investments

Securities brokers have a duty to their customers to always act in their best financial interests. The main part of this is only recommending investments to customers that are suited for them. Securities brokers, like Andre Davis, must look at factors like their customers' investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation to determine if a particular investment is suitable for them. Brokers are expected to conduct the necessary due diligence required to determine this suitability. Because of this, they are not allowed to excuse themselves by claiming they were unaware of an investment's unsuitability.

Unauthorized Trading

Securities brokers are not allowed to execute trades on their customers' behalf without first receiving their authorization to do so. Investors are entitled to the opportunity to decide for themselves if they want to be invested in a particular security. When securities brokers ignore this, it can often result in financial harm to the investor.

There is a trading practice known as discretion in which securities brokers are allowed to execute trades in a customer's account without first obtaining authorization for every trade. Before brokers can begin exercising discretion in a customer's account, they must first receive express written permission to do so from the customer and have their member firm accept the account in question as suitable for discretionary trading. Some securities brokers will begin discretionary trading on verbal authorization from the customer despite the fact that it is against policy.

Churning

Securities brokers must always act in their customers' best financial interests not only in the securities they recommend, but the frequency in which they execute trades. When securities brokers trade a customer's account excessively, it can often result in serious financial harm to the customer. Despite this, many securities brokers will engage in this act because of how much it increases their commissions. When a securities broker trades an investor's account excessively with the express purpose of generating commissions, it is known as churning. This is a fraudulent trading practice that is unfortunately relatively common. Churning can be detrimental to customers due to the unnecessary fees and trading losses it causes them to incur.

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 Andre Davis, 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.