Richard Coleman Allegedly Engages In The Excessive Trading Of Multiple Investor Accounts

The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker Richard Coleman. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Richard Coleman has been the subject of multiple customer disputes.

Richard Coleman was a New York based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for twenty-one years. During his career, he was registered with twenty different securities firms.

His Registrations

• Gaines, Berland Inc. (1996-1998)


• Whitehall Wellington Investments, Inc. (1998-2000)


• Harrison Securities (2001-2002)


• Gunnallen Financial (2002-2003)


• Continental Broker-Dealer Corp. (2003-2004)


• Granite Associates, Inc. (2004)


• LH Ross & Company (2004)


• Benson York Group (2004-2006)


• New Castle Financial Services (2006-2008)


• A&F Financial Securities (2008)


• Aura Financial Services (2008-2009)


• Rockwell Global (2009-2012)


• Woodstock Financial Group (2012)


• John Thomas Financial (2012-2013)


• Brookville Capital Partners (2013-2015)


• Tryco Securities (2015)


• Legend Securities (2015-2016)


• Salomon Whitney Financial (2016-2017)


• Richard James & Associates (2017-2018)


• SW Financial (2018-2019)

The Allegations

• In May 2000, a customer alleged that Richard Coleman executed unauthorized trades. This case was settled for $7,500 in damages.


• In November 2008, a customer alleged that Richard Coleman recommended unsuitable securities and excessively traded their account. This case was settled for $25,000 in damages.


• In January 2011, a customer alleged that Richard Coleman recommended unsuitable investments. This case was settled for $210,000 in damages.


• In January 2019, a customer alleged that Richard Coleman handled their account negligently, breached contract, breached his fiduciary duty, excessively traded their account, recommended unsuitable investments, and engaged in fraud. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $85,000 in damages.


• Richard Coleman was officially sanctioned by FINRA in August 2019. The findings in this matter state that Coleman excessively traded customers' accounts. Due to these alleged actions, the customers in question lost a collective total of $225,745 and paid a total of $139,930 in commissions and fees to Richard Coleman. Due to these alleged actions, he was fined $15,000, forced to repay the $139,930 in restitution, and suspended from acting as a securities broker in any fashion for a period of two years.

Excessive Trading

Securities brokers like Richard Coleman have an obligation to trade their customers' accounts in a suitable manner, both in the securities they recommend and the frequency in which they execute trades. When brokers trade their customers' accounts to an excessive manner, it can quite easily cause them financial detriment. This is because trading securities before their maturity dates eliminates the chances of seeing returns and excessive trading causes the customer to rack up unnecessary sales charges that cause their principal to deteriorate. One of the main motivations behind engaging in this trading practice is the fact that the broker receives an additional commission for every transaction they execute.

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 Richard Coleman, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation.