The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of securities broker Lloyd Layton. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Lloyd Layton has been the subject of a FINRA sanction.
Lloyd Layton is a Washington DC based securities broker. He has worked in the securities industry for thirty-two years. During his career, he has been registered with five different securities firms.
His Registrations
- Merrill Lynch (1987-1995)
- Citigroup Global Markets (1995-2004)
- Morgan Stanley (2004-2015)
- Wells Fargo (2015-2018)
- Coastal Equities (2019-Present)
The Allegations
Lloyd Layton was officially sanctioned by FINRA in August 2018. The findings in this matter state that he engaged in an unsuitable pattern of short-term trading of Unit Investment Trusts in 54 customer accounts. He allegedly repeatedly recommended that the customers purchase UITs and then sell these products well before their maturity dates. He then allegedly advised the customers to use the proceeds to purchase UITs identical to the ones they just sold. This caused them to incur incredibly unnecessary sales charges. Due to these allegations, he was fined $5,000 and suspended for a period of three months.
What Does This Mean?
Different securities are designed to be held onto for different lengths of time. For instance, there is a product known as a leveraged ETF that is specifically designed to be purchased and then resold within a single trading day. However, Unit Investment Trusts have longer holding periods that are necessary for the investment to mature. Selling these products before they mature lowers the investors’ chances that they will actually see a return on their investment. In addition, these products are always accompanied by excessively high sales fees charged to the investor. Excessive trading for UITs not only prevents investors from seeing a return on their investment, but also causes them to rack up highly unnecessary sales charges that cause their principal investment to deteriorate.
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 investing 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 Lloyd Layton, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation.
