Churning/Overtrading

Churning refers to the excessive account trading for the broker’s own commissions and/or profit, while exercising control over your money.

Churning typically involves a broker frequently buying and selling equities. However, churning can come in other forms. Your broker may buy and sell more expensive products (such as mutual funds), which in effect generates higher commissions, therefore the broker may not need to trade as frequently as they would with general equities. Churning ultimately occurs when your broker aims to generate high commissions for the benefit of himself/herself, rather than for the benefit of you. If you notice frequent trading or excessive fees, it may be an indication that your broker is engaging in churning. You need a New York investment churning law firm like Malecki Law can review your accounts and trading activity at no cost.

Control is exercised in situations when an investor is unable to evaluate recommendations and a judgment is made by the broker on the investor’s behalf, whether or not it was discussed with the investor. Overtrading is essentially the same as churning but refers to excessive trading that is not in line with the customers’ needs and objectives. If you notice frequent trading or excessive fees, your broker may be churning your accounts. A New York investment churning attorney like the lawyers at Malecki Law will review the trading and fees in your account.

You should review documents related to your accounts and ask your broker questions about your accounts. By reviewing documents and statements, you might notice indications of potential churning, such as: unauthorized trading or excessive fees. Unfortunately, doing your due diligence as an investor will not stop your broker from churning your accounts. Therefore, your brokerage firm should have supervisory procedures in place to detect and avoid excessive trading within your accounts. If you notice frequent trading or excessive fees appearing in your account(s), contact Malecki Law’s experienced investment churning lawyers in New York , for a free consultation. It is imperative that the supervisory procedures adequately guide supervisors on how to detect red flags and that the firm adequately trains its supervisors on the next steps to take after they have determined there is a potential churning issue present.

Regulators’ hold brokers and brokerage firms accountable for churning or overtrading in their customers’ accounts. For example, both FINRA and the SEC held broker William Gennity accountable for allegedly churning his clients’ accounts. Specifically, the SEC’s complaint, filed in court, stated that Mr. Gennity “recommended to four customers a pattern of high-cost, in-and-out trading without any reasonable basis to believe that his customers could make a profit.” Further, the SEC found that Mr. Gennity’s misconduct along with his colleague’s misconduct resulted in nearly $700,000 in losses sustained by their customers. Meanwhile, Mr. Gennity made almost $300,000 in fees and commissions. Further, due to its findings, FINRA suspended Mr. Gennity from the industry and ordered him to pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty, resulting in a total of $302,483 owed.

Another example, FINRA barred Richard Adams, a former broker at CISC, Inc., for allegedly churning his customers’ accounts. Just under a one-year timeframe, Adams excessively traded and churned two of his customers’ accounts. This resulted in Adams generating almost $60,000 in commissions for himself, meanwhile his customers sustained almost $40,000 in losses. Brad Bennett, FINRA’s Executive Vice President and CEO at the time, highlighted that “FINRA has no tolerance for brokers who place commissions ahead of what is suitable and appropriate for their customers.” An example where a brokerage firm was held accountable, involved NEXT Financial Group. FINRA fined the firm $1,000,000 due to supervisory failures that enabled customers’ accounts to be churned. The churning led to approximately $768,000 in losses within the customers’ accounts. If you notice signs of similar behavior, a New York investment churning law firm like Malecki Law can review your potential case.