The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker Michael Castillero. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Michael Castillero has been the subject of multiple customer disputes.
Michael Castillero was a New York-based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for fourteen years. During his career, he was registered with four different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.
His Registrations
- J.P. Turner & Company (2002-2010)
- Legend Securities (2010-2012)
- Alexander Capital (2012-2017)
- Windsor Street Capital (2017)
The Allegations
- In November 2006, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero churned their account and recommended unsuitable investments. This case was settled for $235,000 in damages.
- In April 2009, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero committed fraud, engaged in deceitful behavior, made material misrepresentations, and breached his fiduciary duty. This case was settled for $59,500 in damages.
- In July 2015, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero made unsuitable investment recommendations and violated FINRA rules. This case was settled for $20,000 in damages.
- In August 2015, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero executed unauthorized trades and churned their account. This case was settled for $83,000 in damages.
- In June 2016, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero recommended unsuitable investments, managed their account negligently, and executed unauthorized trades. This case was settled for $25,000 in damages.
- In July 2016, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero recommended unsuitable investments, managed their account negligently, executed unauthorized trades, breached his fiduciary duty, and made negligent misrepresentations of material facts. This case was settled for $100,000 in damages.
- In June 2017, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero made unsuitable investment recommendations. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $12,000 in damages.
- In July 2017, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero recommended unsuitable investments and made material misrepresentations and omissions of material facts. This case was settled for $25,000 in damages.
- In May 2018, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero executed unauthorized trades. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $52,900 in damages.
- In November 2018, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero executed unsuitable transactions, made material misrepresentations, and churned their account. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $231,758 in damages.
- In February 2019, Michael Castillero was officially barred by FINRA from acting as a securities broker in any fashion after allegedly failing to comply with an investigation into his alleged unauthorized trading.
- In December 2019, a customer alleged that Michael Castillero committed fraud, made material misrepresentations of fact, managed their account negligently, breached contract, engaged in financial elder abuse, and breached his fiduciary duty. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $150,000 in damages.
Churning
One of the most notable allegations levied against Michael Castillero was that he churned customer accounts. Churning is a fraudulent trading practice designed to increase a broker’s commissions at the expense of the customer’s financial interests. Most brokers are compensated for their services by charging their customers a percentage of their principal investment whenever executing a transaction on their behalf. This motivates some less than scrupulous securities brokers to execute trades in a customer’s account to an excessive degree. This serves no financial benefit to investors and usually causes them to experience significant financial harm due to the additional fees it causes them to incur.
Unauthorized Trading
There is a common misconception among investors that hiring a securities broker equates to forfeiting control over your account. This is most certainly not the case. Brokers are still required to obtain the account holder’s authorization before executing a trade on their behalf. There is a trading practice known as discretion that essentially gives this level of control to securities brokers; however, before a broker can begin engaging in any discretionary trading, they must obtain the account holder’s express written authorization. The broker’s firm must also approve the account as one that is suitable for discretionary trading. This is necessary as investors need to be completely aware of what they are agreeing to by granting discretionary authority to their brokers. This is because discretion can be a very slippery slope. It grants brokers an excess of power that provides them ample opportunity to trade their customer’s account in an unsuitable and excessive manner.
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 Michael Castillero, 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.
