Even Nuns Fall Victim to Securities Fraud
The Churning Securities Fraud
Churning is a type of securities fraud where a broker buys and sells securities with your account to excess, in order to generate commissions and fees. The broker or brokerage firm does this solely to increase the fees owed to them from your account, without any regard for you as a client or your investment objectives.
How did Nuns Become Involved in Securities Fraud?
Unfortunately, no one is immune to securities fraud. That’s why it is so important to research not only the registration of the broker, firm and securities you are considering investing in, but to research the complaint history of your proposed broker and brokerage firm. If that had been done, this story would have never taken place. So, here is the story from Forbes…
“In April 2010, the SEC initiated administrative proceedings against stockbroker Paul George Chironis, alleging that he churned two accounts owned by the Sisters of Charity — one account with money for the care of nuns in assisted-living facilities and a second account to support the nuns’ charitable endeavors.” [1]
Protecting Yourself Against Securities Fraud
There are two really disturbing things about this story to me, other than the fact that a shark got one over on a group of aged, sickly, community devoted nuns. First, it is common for confidence men (con artists) to look for large accounts, like retirement funds, to use to perpetrate securities fraud. The bigger the account, the easier it is to manipulate funds, skew reports and hide numbers as traditional standard risk losses. The second, this could have easily been avoided if the investors had properly researched the complaint history filed against stockbroker Paul George Chironis before investing with him.
In part two of this tragic story, I’ll go more into detail about Paul George Chironis’ history as a stockbroker and what you can do to research and protect yourself from this type of stockbroker fraud. Please, if you are not getting anywhere with resolving securities issues on your own, call S. David Anton of Anton Legal Group!
S. David Anton, Esquire is a Certified Arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), formerly the NASD, which is the national organization responsible for overseeing the securities industry. He has served as a Judge/Panelist and rendered decisions in many securities arbitration, giving him a unique perspective on his client’s cases.
FOR SECURITIES ADVICE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT DAVID ANTON OF THE ANTON LEGAL GROUP AT (813) 443-5249.
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/