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.

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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. The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is interested in hearing from investors who believe this may be them.

Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the possible misconduct of former securities broker James Eichner. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, James Eichner has been the subject of multiple customer complaints.

James Eichner was a New York based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for eighteen years. During his career, he was registered with seven different securities firms.

His Registrations

  • Ladenburg Capital Management (2000-2001)
  • Harrison Securities (2001-2003)
  • Joseph Stevens & Company (2003-2004)
  • S.W. Bach & Company (2004-2005)
  • S.W. Bach & Company (2005-2006)
  • National Securities Corporation (2006-2018)
  • Allied Millennial Partners (2018-2019)

The Allegations

  • In December 2008, a customer alleged that James Eichner failed to follow their instructions. This case was settled for $35,000 in damages.
  • In April 2010, a customer alleged that James Eichner excessively traded their account. This case was settled for $90,000 in damages.
  • In April 2015, a customer alleged unauthorized trading, unsuitability, excessive trading, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation, fraud, & poor investment recommendations. This case was settled for $30,000 in damages.
  • In June 2015, a customer alleged negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. This case was settled for $125,000 in damages.
  • In January 2018, James Eichner was discharged from his position at National Securities. This followed allegations that he failed to truthfully disclose a reportable event on internal and regulatory questionnaires.
  • In April 2019, James Eichner was officially sanctioned by FINRA. The findings in this matter state that he exercised discretion in customers’ account without the proper authorization or by having his member firm accept the account as discretionary. Due to these alleged actions, he was fined $10,000 and suspended from acting as a securities broker in any fashion for a period of 45 business days. James Eichner resigned from his position at Allied Millennial Partners three months prior amidst the allegations.

What Does This Mean?

Securities brokers are legally obligated to act in the best interests of their customers. Part of this obligation means obtaining their customer’s authorization before executing trades in their account. This is because investors are entitled to the opportunity to decide for themselves if they want to be invested in a particular security. Securities brokers, like James Eichner, sometimes execute unauthorized trades because they believe that their customer either won’t approve of it or won’t understand the complexity of it.

Securities brokers are also required to trade their customers’ accounts responsibly in regards to the frequency of the trading. Excessive trading can take place both when it is unauthorized or authorized. Securities brokers may have discretion over a customer’s account, which grants them the authority to execute trades without seeking authorization for every trade; however, this process does not grant them the right to trade the account excessively. They may also just be trading a customer’s account to excess and without any type of authorization. Or they may be receiving their customer’s authorization to execute these trades; however, the customer is not aware how detrimental the excessive trading is to them.

The main motivation behind a securities broker, like James Eichner, trading their customer’s account excessively is to generate additional commissions for themself. This process is referred to as account churning.

Oakes & Fosher Can Help

Oakes & Fosher dedicates its entire legal practice to helping investors across the nation. If you, or someone you know, have lost money investing with James Eichner, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation.