Did you lose money investing with Scott Fries (CRD# 2205768)?
Galvin Legal, PLLC is launching an investigation on behalf of investors who may have suffered losses investing with Scott Fries. If you suffered losses investing with Scott Fries, then Galvin Legal, PLLC may be able to help you recover your losses in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA“) arbitration claim.
If you suffered losses and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
As of September 23, 2020, Scott Fries’s FINRA BrokerCheck Report contains the following:
BARRED: FINRA has barred this individual from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm.
Disclosure Events
According to the SEC’s complaint, Fries purportedly recommended that certain individuals, including several of his brokerage customers and their relatives, provide him funds to invest outside of his relationship with the registered broker-dealer and investment adviser.
Between January 2016 and March 2019, the SEC claims that at least seven investors gave Fries checks totaling approximately $178,000, which he deposited into his personal bank accounts. Within days of receiving the money, the SEC said that he began paying his own expenses — such as mortgage payments, payday loans and credit card bills.
The SEC also alleges that he created fake account statements, lied to his employer, and used a Ponzi-like scheme to repay a couple who demanded return of their investment funds.
The SEC’s complaint charges Fries with violating the antifraud provisions of various federal securities laws, and seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty.
2 Regulatory Event(s)
1 Employment Separation After Allegations
UPDATE 9/23/2020: The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Scott Allen Fries, a former Ohio-based registered representative and investment adviser representative, with allegedly defrauding at least seven investors out of at least $178,000. Fries spent four years at Transamerica Financial Advisors and five years at NYLife Securities. According to his BrokerCheck profile, he was fired from Transamerica in July 2019 for allegedly accepting funds to invest in securities products away from the firm. He was barred by FINRA months later for failing to respond to their requests for information.
Current and Previous Registrations
10/03/2014 – 07/18/2019 TRANSAMERICA FINANCIAL ADVISORS, INC (CRD#:16164) CINCINNATI, OH
12/18/2008 – 09/22/2014 NYLIFE SECURITIES LLC (CRD#:5167) PIQUA, OH
04/12/2002 – 12/11/2002 WORLD GROUP SECURITIES, INC. (CRD#:114473) DULUTH, GA
06/06/1994 – 04/12/2002 WMA SECURITIES, INC. (CRD#:32625) DULUTH, GA
01/21/1993 – 06/06/1994 INTERSECURITIES, INC. (CRD#:16164) ST. PETERSBURG, FL
04/15/1992 – 12/22/1992 PFS INVESTMENTS INC. (CRD#:10111) DULUTH, GA
If you suffered losses and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
Due Diligence Requirement
FINRA requires broker’s to conduct due diligence on investments and to conduct a suitability analysis when recommending securities to a customer that takes into account the customer’s knowledge and experience. FINRA Rule 2111(a) states that “a member or an associated person must have a reasonable basis to believe that a recommended transaction or investment strategy involving a security or securities is suitable for the customer, based on the information obtained through the reasonable diligence of the member or associated person to ascertain the customer’s investment profile. A customer’s investment profile includes, but is not limited to, the customer’s age, other investments, financial situation and needs, tax status, investment objectives, investment experience, investment time horizon, liquidity needs, risk tolerance, and any other information the customer may disclose to the member or associated person in connection with such recommendation.”
Rule 2111 is composed of three main obligations: reasonable-basis suitability, customer-specific suitability, and quantitative suitability. Brokers and the brokerage firms they work for that fail to conduct adequate due diligence on investments they recommend or that make unsuitable recommendations can be held responsible for the customer’s losses in a FINRA arbitration claim.
If you suffered losses and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
Request a Free Consultation with a Securities Attorney
If you suffered losses investing with Scott Fries and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
This information is all publicly available and is being provided to you by Galvin Legal, PLLC.
Galvin Legal, PLLC is a national securities arbitration, securities mediation, securities litigation, securities fraud, securities regulation and compliance, and investor protection law practice. For more information on Galvin Legal, PLLC and its representation of investors, please visit www.galvinlegal.com or call 1-800-405-5117.
