Furgison Law Group investigates claims against James P. Hilty, Jr.

The securities fraud lawyers at Furgison Law Group are currently investigating claims against James P. Hilty, Jr., and Edward Jones. The arbitration specialists at Furgison Law Group are investigating claims involving allegations of unauthorized trading, breach of fiduciary duty, failure to supervise, misrepresentations, omissions of material facts, conflict of interests, violations of state and federal securities laws, along with other broker misconduct.

FINRA fines James P. Hilty, Jr.

FINRA assessed a deferred fine of $5,000 and suspended James P. Hilty, Jr. (CRD #5400513, Ocala, Florida) from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for 45 days. Hilty consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he effected discretionary transactions in the securities accounts of customers without obtaining the customers’ prior written authorization or his member firm’s approval of the accounts as discretionary. The findings stated that none of the customers were aware of the trades at the time they were made, but instead had previously spoken with Hilty regarding a trading strategy. Hilty failed to discuss the subject trades with the customers prior to making the trades, and failed to discuss the transactions with the customers on the day of the trade. The firm prohibits the use of discretion in customer accounts other than time and price discretion, and does not approve customer accounts for discretionary trading. As a consequence, the customers’ accounts were not approved for discretionary trading. The suspension is in effect from February 1, 2016, through March 16, 2016. (FINRA Case #2014041875801)

Previous Misconduct

In June 2014, Edward Jones terminated James P. Hilty for violating firm policy regarding discretionary trading, causing some clients to violate regulation T and violating the firm's human resources policy regarding email correspondence.

Investors Have the Right to Recover Their Losses

When investments are sold by brokerage firms licensed by FINRA, they are subject to the laws that FINRA enforces. The brokerage firms are responsible for ensuring that their brokers are trading fairly, ethically and in the best interest of their clients. Ideally, they would accomplish this through careful supervision. Unfortunately, too often this supervision has been inadequate to fully protect investors. If you purchased any investments through a representative of a registered brokerage firm and suffered loses through negligence or fraud, it immediately puts the brokerage firm at fault for failing to supervise their broker. FINRA law then dictates that you can hold the firm legally liable to recover your damages. 

Can I recover my investment losses?

If you lost a substantial portion of your retirement savings or other assets as a result of investments purchased through James P. Hilty, Jr., or Edward Jones, please contact us immediately. Our investment fraud lawyers have recovered millions of dollars from the largest banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms in the world on behalf of investment fraud victims. You may have certain legal rights that require your immediate attention. Time is of the essence in these claims. The sooner you act, the greater your chances of recovering your investment losses. Don't wait. Contact us TODAY for a FREE Consultation and case evaluation. We will tell you if you have a viable claim worth pursuing.