Ryan Murnane Allegedly Places Customers In Unsuitable Investments

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

Ryan Murnane was a New York based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for twelve years. During his career, he was registered with six different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.

His Registrations

• S.W. Back & Company (2004-2005)


• Granite Associates (2005-2006)


• J.P. Turner & Company (2006-2010)


• Rockwell Securities (2010-2013)


• Alexander Capital (2013-2015, 2017)


• Woodstock Financial Group (2015-2017)

The Allegations 

• In May 2012, a customer alleged that Ryan Murnane executed unauthorized trades, excessively traded their account, and caused them to incur unnecessary losses. This case was settled for $40,000 in damages.


• In August 2012, a customer alleged that Ryan Murnane breached his fiduciary duty, managed their account negligently, committed securities fraud, committed common law fraud, and breached contract. This case was settled for $71,116 in damages.


• In September 2013, a customer alleged that Ryan Murnane churned their account, recommended unsuitable investments, breached his fiduciary duty, committed common law fraud, and breached contract. This case was settled for $30,000 in damages.


• In January 2017, Ryan Murnane was terminated from Woodstock Financial Group following allegations that he destroyed the personal computer of another registered representative.


• In May 2017, Ryan Murnane was officially sanctioned by the state of Montana. The findings state that he engaged in excessive trading, executed unsuitable trades, charged excessive commissions, engaged in unethical and fraudulent trading, engaged in unregistered trading, and failed to comply with a condition imposed by the Montana Securities Commissioner. Due to these allegations, he was barred by the state of Montana from acting as registered securities broker in any fashion, fined $300,000, and forced to pay $313,069 in restitution.


• In December 2018, a customer alleged that Ryan Murnane failed to follow instructions, communicated poorly, and provided them with an unbalanced portfolio. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $1.3 million in damages.


• In July 2019, a customer alleged that Ryan Murnane recommended a highly unsuitable investment strategy that included leveraged ETFs and securities in the oil and gas sector. The customer also alleged that Murnane breached his fiduciary duty and manged their account negligently. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $1.8 million in damages.

What Does This Mean?

The most notable allegation levied against Ryan Murnane was that he recommended investments that were unsuitable for his customers. The main part of a broker's duty as a fiduciary is only recommending investments that are financially suitable for their customers. Brokers can determine if an investment is suitable for their customer by looking at important information provided by them. This includes the customer's age, financial situation, risk tolerance, investment objectives, and liquidity needs. These factors help determine if a particular investment would be suitable for an investor. When brokers place investors into investments that are contrary to these factors, it is referred to as broker negligence. This is unless of course the broker purposefully chose unsuitable investments in an attempt to defraud their customers or increase their own commissions at their customer's expense.

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 Ryan Murnane, 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.