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Embattled brokerage argues SEC copied a FINRA case

14:43 19 August in In the News by rafferty

August 18, 2022 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   Alpine Securities, a brokerage fighting expulsion from FINRA and pursuing legal cases against its last two CEOs, has a new skirmish: A separate SEC matter it says should concern the whole industry. Salt Lake City-based Alpine Securities has gotten mixed results in its lengthy and repeated run-ins with regulators. One affiliate under common ownership prevailed last year over FINRA when the SEC overturned a previous enforcement case. However, the brokerage also coughed up a civil penalty of $12 million because of a federal court's decision in another SEC case accusing the firm of anti-money laundering failures. And a different judge quickly tossed Alpine's lawsuit against FINRA last year alleging that hearings on Zoom violated its rights. Its current SEC and FINRA cases revolve around the company's conduct as a brokerage that clears trades of stock in smaller...

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Lead Broker-Dealer Seller of GWG Bonds Reports Potential Trouble

14:58 27 May in In the News by rafferty

May 23, 2022 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News In its annual audited financial statement, Emerson Equity reported that problems related to an unnamed offering potentially could harm the firm. The lead seller of the bonds of GWG Holdings Inc. recently revealed troublesome fallout from a product that failed, raising questions about the firm. In its annual audited financial statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Emerson Equity reported that problems related to an unnamed offering potentially could harm the firm. “In 2022, there was an offering that ceased distributions and redemptions and, as a result, this may have an adverse effect on the future financial condition or results of operations of the company,” according to Emerson’s 2021 financial statement, which was filed March 2 but was not posted on the SEC’s website until recently. Last month, GWG,...

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Avantax Boosts Recruiting Bonus to Add Advisers

13:02 09 May in In the News by rafferty

May 6, 2022 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News Providing hefty bonuses to recruit financial advisers is like a sugar rush: sweet at first but it comes with a downside. After seeing hundreds of advisers walk out the door last year in the wake of an unpopular fee it announced in 2020, Avantax Investment Services Inc. has slowed the bleeding by paying new recruits bonuses up to two to three times the industry norm as part of a package to get them to move to the firm. The broker-dealer arm of Blucora Inc., Avantax, which focuses on advisers who are aligned with or also work as accountants and tax professionals, said in 2020 that it was introducing a new $60 annual fee for advisers’ accounts at outside money managers, a popular way for advisers to conduct business directly with...