Over the last 12 years, Oakes & Fosher has tried and won more FINRA arbitration cases on behalf of individual investors than any other law firm in the country.

*Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based alone on prior results.

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

Caroline Korn was a New York-based securities broker. She worked in the securities industry for fourteen years. During her career, she was registered with three different securities firms. She is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion

Her Registrations

  • A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. (2003-2005)
  • Brighton Securities Corp. (2005-2014)
  • Pinnacle Investments (2014-2018)

The Allegations

  • In August 2015, customers alleged that Caroline Korn abused discretionary authority, provided unsuitable investment advice, charged them excessive commissions, and churned their accounts. This case was settled for $105,000 in damages.
  • In November 2015, a customer alleged that Caroline Korn recommended stock purchases that were unsuitable for him given his investment experience and objectives. This case was settled for $15,500 in damages.
  • Also in November 2015, a customer alleged that Caroline Korn recommended unsuitable securities and traded her account excessively, which in turn generated unnecessarily high commission charges. This case was settled for $22,500 in damages.
  • In February 2018, Caroline Korn was officially sanctioned by FINRA. The findings in this matter state that she allegedly recommended and affected unsuitable short-term transactions involving Class A mutual fund shares for six customers. Due to these alleged short-term trades, most of the customers suffered a collective loss of approximately $30,000. These alleged trades made Korn $7,300 in commissions. Due to these allegations, she was suspended from acting as a securities broker in any fashion for a period of four months. She was also forced to repay the $7,300 in disgorgement.

Unsuitability

Most investors lack the ability to invest suitability on their own behalf. Because of this, most investors rely heavily on securities brokers to recommend securities and trading strategies to them that they would actually be financially suited for. One of the most important aspects of a brokers job is having the ability to make suitable recommendations based on factors like investment objectives, age, risk tolerance, liquidity needs, and financial situation. Not only that, but it is a requirement of securities brokers to have that ability in order to perform their job adequately.

Churning

Securities brokers need to trade customer accounts suitably not only concerning the investments they recommend, but also the frequency in which they execute trades. When a securities broker trades a customer’s account more frequently than is required, it can often result in serious financial loss to the customer. Excessive trading can prevent investors from seeing expected returns on their investments and can cause sales charges and commissions paid to brokers to rack up. There is a fraudulent trading practice known as churning where less than scrupulous securities brokers trade investor accounts excessively with the express purpose of increasing their own commissions.

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 Caroline Korn, 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.