Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas Receives Several Favorable FINRA Awards For Clients

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Apr 01, 2015, 01:06 ET

HOUSTON, April 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Lawyers with the Securities Law Firm of Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP, www.sseklaw.com, a national firm specializing in litigation and arbitration of cases involving securities fraud and brokerage firm misconduct, recently received a number of FINRA awards successfully recovering some or all of the funds lost by their clients.

The FINRA award in Case # 12-03343 was against Interactive Brokers, LLC ("IB"). That case involved allegations that IB facilitated the misconduct of a Commodities Trading Advisor by permitting the advisor to improperly allocate winning and losing trades after the fact, among other issues. After several days of hearings, the FINRA arbitrators rendered an award for $800,000 to compensate SSEK's clients for their losses.

The next FINRA award, Case # 12-02766, was also against Interactive Brokers, LLC. It involved allegations that IB improperly liquidated securities in its client's account to cover a margin deficit. According to the complaint, IB used a flawed "auto-liquidation" system, which liquidated securities at prices inferior to NBBO (National Best Bid or Offer), and then revalued the entire portfolio based upon those incorrect prices, which resulted in the account entering a death spiral leading to substantial losses. The FINRA arbitrators ordered IB to pay $667,000 to SSEK's client for his losses.

In FINRA Case # 14-00096 against Valic Financial Advisors, Inc. ("Valic"), SSEK represented a retired couple who lost a substantial portion of their retirement savings due to Valic's mismanagement of their portfolio. The claim alleged that Valic invested the couple's life savings far more aggressively than was appropriate, and that the portfolio failed to provide adequate income for these retirees. After several days of hearings, the arbitrator awarded the clients $667,422, including market adjusted (well-managed) damages and an award of $166,804 for their attorneys' fees.

Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP has a team of attorneys, consultants and staff with more than 100 years of combined experience in the securities industry and in securities law. Since 1990, the firm has represented thousands of investors nationwide to recover losses. Those cases have involved the representation of clients in Federal and state courts and in arbitration through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the New York Stock Exchange Inc. (NYSE), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and in private arbitration actions.

Contact Info: 800-259-9010

Robert Kantas [email protected]

Aaron Wall [email protected]

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SOURCE Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP