LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The securities arbitration law firm Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. (http://www.dkrpa.com) has filed a FINRA arbitration claim against Los Angeles-based brokerage firm Wedbush Securities, Inc. to recover energy-sector investment losses for an elderly investor.

Wedbush Securities Recommended the Risky Energy Investments

DKR filed the case on behalf of an 82-year-old woman who suffers from dementia-Alzheimer’s disease. The claim alleges that Wedbush and Wedbush’s brokers recommended that the elderly woman invest almost all her account assets in risky, high-commission, energy-sector securities. According to the claim, the recommendation was unsuitable because it subjected a significant percentage of the woman’s life savings to enormous risk of loss, even though the investor had told Wedbush that she was not willing to take risks with her money. This is the type of financial elder abuse that securities regulators have been focusing on over the past several years.

The Wedbush Brokers Have Histories of Customer Complaints

The Wedbush brokers, William Mark Heiden and Ronald Hodge, who worked out of Wedbush’s Newport Beach, CA office, are no strangers to customer complaints.  Mr. Heiden has been the subject to no fewer than nine (9) other customer complaints in which he has been accused of, among other things, financial elder abuse, unsuitable and unauthorized trading, fraudulent and deceptive activities, and falsifying documents.  At least one of the complaints involved recommendations of energy-sector securities. Mr. Hodge also has been the subject of other customer complaints, one of which involved allegations that he had recommended an unsuitable limited partnership.

Wedbush was Required to Supervise the Brokers

California law and regulatory rules required Wedbush to properly supervise Mr. Heiden and Mr. Hodge, including to ensure that the brokers only recommended investments that were consistent with the customer’s conservative investment objectives. But Wedbush appears to have failed to supervise the brokers properly.

Wedbush Has a Long History of Regulatory Troubles

The fact that Wedbush Securities allowed the over-concentrated energy securities sales should come as no surprise. Wedbush has been the subject of nearly 100 regulatory investigations, fines, and settlements involving, among other things, inadequate supervisory procedures and failure to supervise. At DKR, we have represented a number of investors who lost money as a result of Wedbush’s failure to supervise brokers properly.

If you lost suffered Wedbush investment losses or lost money with Wedbush brokers William Mark Heiden or Ronald Hodge, contact a Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein investment fraud lawyer for a free case evaluation at (888) 578-6255 or info@dkrpa.com. You may have a valid FINRA arbitration claim to recover your Wedbush investment losses. You also can visit Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. on the web at www.dkrpa.com.

Contact:
Jeffrey B. Kaplan, Esq.
jkaplan@dkrpa.com
2029 Century Park East
Century Plaza Tower
Suite 400N
Los Angeles, CA 90067
* Offices in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, West Palm Beach, and Bloomfield Hills, MI
(888) 578-6255
URL http://www.dkrpa.com