The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker James Schwartz. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, James Schwartz has been the subject of multiple customer disputes.
James Schwartz was a New York-based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for eighteen years. During his career, he was registered with twelve different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.
His Registrations
- First American Equities (1998-1999)
- Salomon Grey Financial Corporation (1999-2001)
- First Montauk Securities Corp. (2001-2002)
- Investec Ernst & Company (2002)
- Maxim Group (2002-2004)
- Gunnallen Financial (2004-2010)
- Paulson Investment Company (2010-2011)
- Rockwell Global Capital (2011-2012)
- John Thomas Financial (2012-2013)
- Aegis Capital Corp. (2013-2016)
- First Standard Financial Company (2016)
- Joseph Gunnar & Co. (2016-2017)
The Allegations
- In November 2015, a customer alleged that James Schwartz executed unauthorized trades, managed their account negligently, breached his fiduciary duty, and made material misrepresentations. This case was settled for $95,000 in damages.
- In January 2016, a customer alleged that James Schwartz excessively traded their account, managed their account negligently, breached his fiduciary duty, and recommended unsuitable investments. This case was settled for $180,000 in damages.
- In June 2016, customers alleged that Jame Schwartz made unsuitable investment recommendations and overall mishandled their accounts. This case was settled for $782,000 in damages.
- In April 2017, a customer alleged that James Schwartz made unsuitable investment recommendations, engaged in unauthorized trading, excessively traded their account, made material misrepresentations, breached contract, and breached his fiduciary duty. This case was settled for $100,000 in damages.
- In August 2017, customers alleged that James Schwartz made unsuitable investment recommendations, made trades in their account without authorization, handled their account negligently, violated multiple federal securities laws, breached his fiduciary duty, and traded their account excessively. This case was settled for $800,000 in damages.
- In February 2018, a customer alleged that James Schwartz executed unauthorized trades and recommended unsuitable investments. This case was settled for $660,786 in damages.
- In May 2018, a customer alleged that James Schwartz managed their account negligently, executed unauthorized trades, churned their account, recommended unsuitable investments, breached contract, and breached his fiduciary duty. This case was settled for $132,500 in damages.
- In February 2019, James Schwartz was officially sanctioned by FINRA. The findings in this matter state that he churned and excessively traded the accounts of customers at his member firm. These alleged actions caused losses of more than $660,000 in damages while generating almost $200,000 in commissions for himself. Due to these alleged actions, he was barred by FINRA from acting as a securities broker in any fashion.
- In January 2020, a customer alleged that James Schwartz excessively traded their account, recommended unsuitable investments, and made false and misleading statements. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $200,000 in damages.
Churning
Churning is a fraudulent trading practice where a securities broker excessively trades a customer’s account for their own financial benefit. Brokers receive compensation for their services by charging their customers a percentage of their principal investment as their commission for brokering the trade. This often motivates less than scrupulous securities brokers to trade an investor’s account excessively as they gain a new commission every time a transaction is executed. This fraudulent act can be detrimental to investors due to the trading fees that can rack up and significantly drain their principal investments.
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 James Schwartz, 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.
