The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the possible misconduct of former securities broker Kyusun Kim. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Kyusun Kim has been the subject of over twenty customer disputes.
Kyusun Kim was a California based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for nineteen years. During his career, he was registered with three different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.
His Registrations
- Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation (1997-2006)
- Independent Financial Group (2006-2016)
- Sandlapper Securities (2016-2017)
Customer Complaints
- In December 2007, a customer alleged that Kyusun Kim forged their signature on specific documents that resulted in the transfer of policies. This case was settled for $100,000.
- In May 2012, a complaint was filed against Kyusun Kim regarding allegations of making unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentation, omitting material facts, and breach of fiduciary duty. This case was settled for $22,500.
- In August 2012, a customer alleged that Kyusun Kim violated state and federal securities laws, handled their account negligenty, recommended unsuitable securities, and breached his fiduciary duty all in connection with a direct participation program. This case was settled for $30,000 in damages.
- In April 2014, a customer alleged that Kyusun Kim recommended highly unsuitable products that include direct participation programs, non-traded REITs, variable annuities, mutual funds, and structured notes. This case was settled for $690,000.
- In August 2016, a customer alleged that Kyusun Kim handled their account negligently, recommended unsuitable securities, made negligent misrepresentations, engaged in fraud, and engaged in financial elder abuse. This case was settled for approximately $1.35 million.
- In September 2016, a customer alleged that Kyusun Kim breached his fiduciary duty, breached a written contract, breached an oral contract, and violated state and federal securities laws. This case was settled for $115,000 in damages.
- In March 2017, a customer alleged that Kyusun Kim breached his fiduciary duty and breached contract. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $1 million in damages.
- In July 2017, a customer alleged that Kyusun Kim breached his fiduciary duty, breached a written contract, breached an oral contract, engaged in financial abuse, and violated state and federal securities laws. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $300,000 in damages.
FINRA Sanction
In June 2018, he was sanctioned by FINRA. The findings in this matter state that Kyusun Kim made unsuitable recommendations to multiple senior citizens who were either retired or in the process of retiring. Kim allegedly recommended to these customers that they concentrate their retirement funds in speculative and illiquid alternative investments.
The findings state that these elderly customers had little or no investment experience and that these recommendations were unsuitable for these particular investors. Kyusun Kim allegedly did not disclose any of the risks that were associated with purchasing these securities.
The findings went on to state that Kyusun Kim falsified information on the customers’ account forms and other documents in order to work around the firm’s policies pertaining to these types of investments. This falsified information included inflating the net worth, liquid worth, and investment experience of all of the senior investors. His firm had policies in place that limited the amount of a customer’s net worth that could be invested in alternative investments such as the ones Kyusun Kim had been placing these investors in.
All of these customers suffered significant losses due to these investments. Due to these alleged actions, Kyusun Kim was barred by FINRA from acting as a securities broker in any fashion.
Alternative Investments
The term alternative investments is used to describe securities that are not traded on any public securities exchanges. These private investments are poorly regulated, which in turn creates a significant potential for oversight that occurs when dealing in these products. Less than scrupulous securities brokers take advantage of this when pitching these products to unsuspecting investors. Many brokers will market these private investments as safe investments when nothing could actually be further from the truth. The truth is that that these types of investments are risky and illiquid securities that are unsuitable for most investors.
One of the reasons that brokers continue to push these products despite how unsuitable they are is because of how much they receive in commissions when doing so. Brokers can receive a commission of as high as ten percent when recommending these products. These commissions are compounded with additional fees that can drain an investor’s principal investment of up to seventeen percent. When an investor’s principal investment is lowered that substantially, it becomes almost impossible for them to see any profit under anything besides booming market conditions.
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 could actually be entitled to damages. Oakes & Fosher dedicates its entire legal practice to helping investors across the nation. If you, or anyone you know, have lost money investing with Kyusun Kim, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation. We work on a contingency basis, which means there are no fees charged unless we collect for you.
