William Downing Allegedly Excessively Trades Customer Accounts

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

William Downing was a Texas based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for thirty-one years. During his career, he was registered with nine different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.

His Registrations

• Shearson Lehman Hutton (1986-1989)


• Rotan Mosle (1989-1991)


• Painewebber Incorporated (1991-1995)


• Morgan Keegan & Company (1995-2001)


• A.G. Edwards & Sons (2000-2008)


• Wells Fargo Advisors (2008-2010)


• Merrill Lynch (2010-2012)


• J.W. Cole Financial (2012-2017)


• Coastal Equities (2017-2018)

The Allegations

• In October 2011, a customer alleged that William Downing recommended unsuitable securities. This case was settled for $162,500 in damages.


• In July 2012, William Downing was terminated from his position at Merrill Lynch. This was due to allegations that he mismarked solicited trades as unsolicited, exercised discretion in certain client accounts, and communicated confidential information with an unauthorized third party.


• In March 2018, customers alleged that unsuitable and excessive trades were made on their behalf by William Downing. This case was settled for $385,000 in damages.


• In November 2018, a customer alleged that William Downing excessively traded their account. This case was settled for $80,000 in damages.

Excessive Trading

Securities brokers like William Downing are required to trade their customers' accounts suitably. This not only means choosing suitable securities on their behalf, but also executing trades at an acceptable frequency. Sometimes brokers will trade a customer's account excessively even when it serves no actual financial purpose to the customer. In fact, it can often cause significant financial harm to the investor as it prevents them from seeing desired returns on investments that were sold before their maturity dates. It also causes unnecessary sales charges to add up and in turn 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 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 William Glenn Downing, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation.