The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker Gregory Dean. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Gregory Dean has been the subject of multiple customer disputes.
Gregory Dean was a New York based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for fourteen 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
- Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (2005)
- MetLife Securities (2005)
- American Capital Partners (2005-2007)
- Worden Capital Management (2014-2019)
The Allegations
- In November 2013, a customer alleged that Gregory Dean failed to follow instructions to issue a stop loss order. This case was settled for $8,250 in damages.
- In October 2014, a customer alleged that Gregory Dean churned their account, managed their account negligently, recommended unsuitable investments, and over-concentrated their accounts. This case was settled for $350,000 in damages.
- In January 2015, a customer alleged that Gregory Dean excessively traded and churned their account between April 2012 and March 2013. This case was settled for $200,000 in damages.
- In June 2016, a customer alleged that Gregory Dean made unsuitable investments, handled their account negligently, made material misrepresentations and omissions about their account, breached contract, and violated the Indiana Securities Act, breached his fiduciary duty, and engaged in constructive fraud. This case was settled for $40,000 in damages.
- In December 2016, a customer alleged that Gregory Dean excessively traded their account, churned their account, recommended unsuitable investments, and executed unauthorized transactions. This case was settled for $42,500 in damages.
- In January 2017, Gregory Dean was officially sanctioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The findings in this matter state that he engaged in an in-and-out trading strategy as a means to generate hefty commissions for himself. He allegedly recommended his customers engage in a high-cost trading strategy that entailed them excessively and repurchasing stocks. Dean allegedly executed this churning strategy in 27 customer accounts. According to findings released by FINRA in August 2019, Gregory Dean’s alleged trading caused these customers to incur over $1,834,832 in trading losses, while he himself obtained $715,930 in commissions. Due to these alleged actions, Gregory Dean was forced to pay $253,881 in disgorgement by the SEC, and was barred from acting as a securities broker in any fashion by both the SEC and FINRA.
- In July 2017, a customer alleged that Gregory Dean recommended unsuitable investments, over-concentrated their account, excessively traded their account, engaged in margin abuse, breached his fiduciary duty, managed their account negligently, made fraudulent misrepresentations, and breached contract. This case was settled for $55,000 in damages.
- In August 2017, a customer alleged that Gregory Dean churned their account, recommended unsuitable investments, engaged in common law fraud, and breached contract. This case was settled for $60,000 in damages.
Churning
Churning is a fraudulent trading strategy instituted by less than scrupulous securities broker such as Gregory Dean. The act occurs when a securities broker trades an investor’s account excessively in order to increase the amount they receive in commissions. Securities brokers are compensated for their services by charging investors a percentage of their principal investment whenever executing a trade on their behalf. This in turn motivates some securities brokers to execute trades much more frequently than is suitable for investors. It may also motivate these brokers to choose investments not suitable for their customer as all the broker is concerned with is making sure that a trade is executed. Churning is a highly fraudulent and predatory trading practice that causes significant harm to investors due to the fees it causes them to rack up. These fees and trading losses caused by churning can greatly diminish an investor’s principal over the life of the investment, while providing the executing broker with significant ill-gotten gains.
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 Gregory Dean, 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.
