Erez Law is interested in speaking with investors who may have suffered losses due to investments with former Financial West Group broker Daniel Maughan (CRD# 2561363). Maughan was registered with Financial West Group in Los Angeles, California from 2010 to 2017.
In August 2019, Maughan was named a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging that he churned and excessively traded a customer’s trust account at his member firm. According to the complaint, “Maughan exercised de facto control over the trust account and made all investment decisions in it, including what securities to buy and sell, the quantities of the securities to buy and sell, and when each transaction would occur. Maughan executed trades in the trust account with a principal value of all purchases and sales in excess of $70 million and the annualized cost-to-equity ratio-the percentage the account had to appreciate to break even-was 21.06. Maughan’s churning and excessive trading was quantitatively unsuitable and generated commissions and costs totaling approximately $841,000 while causing the account to incur realized and unrealized losses of approximately $812,000. Maughan also recommended qualitatively unsuitable trades in the trust account involving options and non-traditional Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and an Exchange Traded Note (ETN).”
Maughan has been the subject of four customer complaints between 2001 and 2015, according to his CRD report. The most recent complaint is regarding:
September 2015. “Breach of fiduciary duty, Negligence, Breach at contract, and misrepresentation.” The customer sought $1.5 million in damages and the case was settled for $550,000. The case was regarding equity-OTC, options, and penny stocks.
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, Financial West Group may be liable for investment or other losses suffered by Maughan’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.
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