If you have suffered investment losses while investing with J.P. Morgan financial advisor Todd Jones, you may be entitled to a recovery. Mr. Jones has recently been accused of committing fraud in a large number of his investors’ accounts. Call 1-866-817-0201 for a free and confidential consultation.
The regulatory action was initiated by FINRA concerning unauthorized trades by Jones in certain high risk investments. The FINRA regulatory settlement identifies that in July 2015, while registered with J.P. Morgan, Jones made trades in his investors’ accounts without permission in the accounts of 12 firm customers and mismarked most of the trades as “unsolicited,” which means that the trade was made at the request of the investor.
While many investors believe that their financial advisor or stock broker can make trades as he/she sees fit, regulations require that there must actually be verbal authority from the account owner contemporaneous to the trade. Absent such verbal authorization, there must written authority.
On July 6 and 7, 2015, Jones exercised discretion to purchase a total of $208,714 of VelocityShares 3x Long Crude Oil (UWTI) in the accounts of 12 firm clients. This investment was not only unauthorized, the investment was also a very risky investment that is designed to multiply the gains or losses of the underlying holdings by three.
None of the 12 clients, had provided Jones with written permission to exercise such trades in their brokerage accounts. Regulatory rules provides in relevant part that, “No… registered representative shall exercise any discretionary power in a customer’s account unless such customer has given prior written authorization to a stated individual or individuals and the account has been accepted by the member . . .” .
The trades likely enriched Jones by thousands of dollars while putting his clients in financial jeopardy.
Though Jones appears to be out of the securities industry, FINRA impose a fine and a four-month suspension. Jones neither confessed or denied the allegations.
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