Did you lose money investing with Steven Schisler (CRD# 2367961)?
Galvin Legal, PLLC is launching an investigation on behalf of investors who may have suffered losses investing with Steven Schisler. If you suffered losses investing with Steven Schisler, 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 January 16, 2023, Steven Schisler’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
1 Customer Dispute
1 Regulatory Event
1 Criminal Disclosure
1 Civil Disclosure
1 Judgment(s)/Lien
January 31, 2022 – An Order Accepting Offer of Settlement was issued in which Schisler was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Schisler consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he made an unsuitable recommendation to two elderly, married customers to invest $300,000 in a promissory note to finance a commercial property. The findings stated that the investment was a substantial portion of the elderly customers’ retirement savings, and they were depending on those funds to pay down considerable debt. The elderly customers also had few alternative sources of income in retirement. The recommended investment was a security and, by its own terms, was limited to accredited investors, which the elderly customers were not. Moreover, Schisler did not perform the due diligence necessary to provide him with a reasonable basis to recommend the investment to his customers. Had Schisler conducted even a cursory internet search, he would have learned that one of the two partners issuing the note had been barred from the securities industry for defrauding investors. The findings also stated that Schisler participated, without the approval of his member firm, in a private securities transaction with the elderly customers. Schisler facilitated the elderly customers’ investment in the note by, among other things, recommending the investment to them, arranging and participating in a meeting in his own office between them and the issuer, and receiving a $9,500 finder’s fee from the issuer in connection with the transaction. Schisler participated despite repeated and explicit instruction from his firm that he could not do so. The findings also included that when the $300,000 note became due, the issuer defaulted. One of the elderly customers had died a few months earlier, and the other brought a civil lawsuit against Schisler and others involved in the investment and, subsequently, a FINRA arbitration against Schisler. Despite repeated instructions from his firm to do so, Schisler willfully failed to timely amend his Form U4 to report either the civil lawsuit or the arbitration filed against him by the surviving elderly customer. Schisler also willfully failed to timely amend his Form U4 to disclose the subsequent resolutions of the civil lawsuit and arbitration as well as his receipt of a Wells Notice advising him that he was the subject of a FINRA investigation. FINRA found that Schisler entered into a settlement agreement with the elderly customer that contained a prohibited condition. Specifically, Schisler executed the settlement agreement with the elderly customer to resolve both her civil lawsuit and FINRA arbitration. However, under the terms of the settlement, Schisler improperly required her to execute a declaration to support his request for expungement. FINRA also found that Schisler lied under oath at the FINRA arbitration panel’s hearing on his request for expungement. During the hearing, Schisler lied to the panel about his involvement in the promissory note, falsely testifying that he did not personally introduce the customers to the issuer and otherwise mischaracterizing the nature of his involvement with the note. In addition, FINRA determined that Schisler lied to FINRA during on-the-record testimony. During testimony, Schisler repeatedly and falsely testified that the finder’s fee he received in connection with the promissory note investment was a personal loan and that he was unaware at the time that the elderly customers had made the investment. Moreover, FINRA found that Schisler engaged in a long pattern of unethical business conduct towards another elderly and retired customer. Schisler solicited the retired customer to lend him $50,000 in the form of a promissory note that was secured by mortgaged property on the verge of default. Schisler defaulted on the mortgage a few days after he issued the note to the retired customer, and he subsequently lost the property through foreclosure. Schisler failed to disclose both the default and subsequent foreclosure to the retired customer and then failed to timely repay her the principal and the accrued interest. Schisler unilaterally extended the maturity date and repeatedly assured the retired customer that payment would be forthcoming, only to renege on his promises without justification. After years of unjustified delays, and still owing most of the original principal, Schisler finally repaid the retired customer more than six years after the note matured. Furthermore, FINRA found that Schisler made a false statement regarding whether he had borrowed money from any current or former customers on a firm compliance questionnaire. In fact, Schisler had borrowed money from two customers, including the retired customer. The findings stated that Schisler caused his firm to fail to preserve books and records by using outside, unmonitored non-firm email accounts not copied, captured, or supervised by his firm to conduct securities business. (FINRA Case #2018058718601)
Current and Previous Registrations
06/01/2012 – 09/09/2019 IFS SECURITIES (CRD#:40375) Grassvalley, CA
03/05/2012 – 05/31/2012 STERNE AGEE FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC. (CRD#:18456) BIRMINGHAM, AL
08/13/2004 – 03/07/2012 SYNERGY INVESTMENT GROUP, LLC (CRD#:46035) GRASS VALLEY, CA
10/30/2003 – 08/02/2004 PENSION PLANNERS SECURITIES, INC. (CRD#:14068) SACRAMENTO, CA
03/13/1999 – 08/26/2003 WASHINGTON SQUARE SECURITIES, INC. (CRD#:2882) WINDSOR, CT
01/16/1998 – 03/17/1999 SUNSET FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC. (CRD#:3538) KANSAS CITY, MO
08/01/1995 – 01/28/1998 SUNAMERICA SECURITIES, INC. (CRD#:20068) PHOENIX, AZ
08/31/1993 – 12/31/1995 CHUBB SECURITIES CORPORATION (CRD#:3870) FORT WAYNE, IN
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 Steven Schisler and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
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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.