Erez Law is currently investigating Wunderlich Securities, Inc. financial advisor Jack McBride (CRD# 2517946) regarding unsuitable investments and other securities violations. McBride has been registered with Wunderlich Securities, Inc. in Birmingham, Michigan since 2014. Previously, he was registered with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. in Farmington Hills, Michigan from 2009 to 2014, when he was terminated regarding, “Registered representative was discharged for violation of company policy related to settlement in the field and solicitation of prohibited securities.”
In November 2017, McBride was suspended for 40 days and sanctioned to civil and administrative penalties and fines of $12,500 by FINRA after he consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he settled a customer complaint without notifying his member firm. The FINRA investigation found that McBride executed $320,000 in securities purchases on the customer’s behalf during a four-day period in July 2013. While the customer instructed McBride to spread purchases across six accounts, Marino purchased securities in only one of the accounts, which did not have a sufficient balance to cover the purchases, causing the customer to incur a margin balance and margin interest balance. Rather than reporting the claim to his firm, McBride wrote four checks to the customer from his personal account, totaling $12,845.86, to reimburse the customer for the margin interest charges after he complained. FINRA found that McBride only disclosed the payments made to the customer after the customer complained to the firm. Additionally, the FINRA findings stated that McBride sent emails overstating the customer’s account balances by as much as $570,000 more than the actual value of the accounts. The findings also stated that in connection with non-traditional exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which were prohibited by his firm, McBride mismarked order tickets as unsolicited when the transactions were in fact solicited.
McBride has been the subject of five customer complaints between 1999 and 2015, one of which was closed without action and two were denied, according to his CRD report:
- May 2015. “Claimant alleges that, from October 2011 to December 2014, he was recommended and sold unsuitable inverse-leveraged ETFs as well as precious metals and mining/natural resources ETFs and common stocks. As a result, he claims he suffered compensatory damages of $2,107,607.” The case was settled for $100,000.
- March 2015. “Claimant alleges that the entire management and supervision of his account are at issue in his claim, including the products (unspecified in the statement of claim) recommended and sold by respondents. Claimant request an award of $917,600 in out of pocket losses, interest, costs, attorney fees, and unspecified punitive damages.” The case was settled for $290,000.
Pursuant to FINRA Rules, member firms are responsible for supervising a broker’s activities during the time the broker is registered with the firm. Therefore, Wunderlich Securities, Inc. may be liable for investment or other losses suffered by McBride’s customers.
Erez Law represents investors in the United States for claims against brokers and brokerage firms for wrongdoing. If and have experienced investment losses, please call us at 888-840-1571 or complete our contact form for a free consultation. Erez Law is a nationally recognized law firm representing individuals, trusts, corporations and institutions in claims against brokerage firms, banks and insurance companies on a contingency fee basis.
"*" indicates required fields
