We represent investors and have successfully pursued Southeast Investments and Frank Black to judgment. The arbitration resulted in a nearly full award of investment losses plus an award of attorney fees. To speak to a lawyer for a free and confidential consultation about losses with Southeast or Black please call 1-866-817-0201.
Black and Southeast are in trouble again. This time by FINRA regulators. FINRA’s Department of Enforcement alleges that Respondent Southeast Investments, acting through Respondent Frank Harmon Black, and Black violated FINRA Rules 8210, 4511, and 2010 in the provision of false documents to FINRA and giving false testimony in a regulatory interview during an investigation into whether the Firm had conducted required inspections of branch offices.
One of the false documents was a list of 43 branch inspections Black claimed he performed, including the dates he purportedly conducted the inspections. Respondents also provided five false branch office inspection checklists that Black claimed he completed during the inspections. Enforcement also alleges that for more than five years Respondents failed to ensure that Southeast preserved all business-related emails by permitting registered representatives to use private email providers.
Under an “honor system” set up by Respondents, registered representatives were obligated to send copies of their emails to the Firm to review and retain. For this conduct, Southeast is charged by FINRA regulators, pursuant to FINRA documents, with willfully violating Section 17(a) ofthe Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Exchange Act Rule 17a-4. Southeast and Black are also charged with violating NASD Rule 3110 and FINRA Rules 4511 and 2010.
The resulting penalty was just short of a quarter million dollars. Frank Black was expelled from the securities industry.
The FINRA order can be found at the following link.
Jeffrey Pederson is a private attorney representing investors, having represented investors in FINRA arbitrations across the country. Please call for a consultation if you have lost funds as a result of actions you suspect may be inappropriate.
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