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Trust and transparency are the cornerstones upon which clients rely in the financial services industry. Financial advisors are expected to adhere to these principles and maintain the highest ethical standards. However, in a recent matter involving Jermaine K. Benjamin, formerly registered with Raymond James Financial Services, questions about compliance have arisen.

The Allegations

Jermaine K. Benjamin has come under scrutiny due to allegations of unauthorized transactions and misappropriation/defalcation. These serious allegations were brought to light when the FINRA member firm filed an amended Form U5, disclosing a written customer complaint related to these issues.

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Whether you are in retirement or are planning for retirement, you may consider working with a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) to manage your retirement assets. RIAs offer professional financial advice and are bound by the fiduciary duty to act in your best interest. However, there are potential issues you should be aware of as you consider working with an RIA. Here is a list of 10 potential problems with entrusting your retirement assets to an RIA.

  1. Misalignment of Interests: While RIAs are held to a fiduciary standard by the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, this does not entirely eliminate the risk of self-interest affecting an RIA’s advice. For instance, RIAs might favor only those investment products from firms that are paying significant commissions to the RIA for selling that product. This means there is a significant potential conflict of interest causing an RIA to recommend the same small set of investment products to every potential client.
  2. Limited Product Offering: Many RIAs have a limited range of investment products due to affiliations with certain investment companies. This could mean you may not have access to the full spectrum of investment options that might be more suitable for your retirement needs.

El auge de las criptomonedas ha sido una de las noticias más importantes del mundo financiero en los últimos años. A medida que las criptomonedas como Bitcoin y Ethereum se han vuelto más populares, muchas personas se han preguntado si deberían invertir en ellas. En este blog, discutiremos los pros y los contras de las criptomonedas desde la perspectiva de un abogado especializado en reclamos de pérdidas de inversión.

Pros de las criptomonedas

  1.  Potencial de ganancias significativas: Uno de los mayores atractivos de las criptomonedas es su potencial de ganancias significativas. Desde su creación, Bitcoin ha experimentado un crecimiento fenomenal, con un aumento de más del 900% en solo un año. Aunque el crecimiento pasado no garantiza el crecimiento futuro, el potencial de ganancias sigue siendo atractivo para muchos inversores.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI), as it develops capabilities far beyond ‘program trading’ has the potential to greatly impact the world of investing in the stock market. In the past decade, technology has advanced greatly, leading to its use in a wide range of industries, including finance. While there is still some uncertainty about how AI will impact the stock market, it is generally believed that it will bring about significant changes in the near future.

One of the biggest benefits of AI in investing is the speed and accuracy of decision-making. With the ability to process large amounts of data quickly, AI algorithms can analyze market trends and identify profitable investments much faster than human traders. In addition, AI algorithms can be programmed to avoid psychological biases that can negatively impact human traders’ decision-making. This could result in more rational and profitable investment decisions.

Another potential benefit of AI in investing is the ability to identify patterns in data that humans might miss. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, including financial data, news articles, and social media, to gain a comprehensive understanding of a company and its potential for growth. This can provide investors with a more accurate picture of a company’s financial health and future prospects, allowing them to make better investment decisions.

When it comes to protecting investments, one of the most useful strategies is awareness. Investors can empower themselves by knowing the basics of the most commonly used investment fraud tactics.

Per the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), three of the most common investment fraud tactics employed by scammers in the United States are known as the “phantom riches” tactic, the “source credibility” tactic, and the “social consensus” tactic. [1]

Each tactic essentially functions by allowing the fraudster to build a false narrative surrounding their supposed investment opportunity, thereby garnering interest and ultimately investment dollars from unsuspecting investor victims.

The theft of an estimated $190 million in cryptocurrency this week from a blockchain bridge, Nomad, is just the latest in a string of similar heists targeting the crypto sector. Crypto investors are encouraged to remain wary of this and similar threats to their crypto assets as they make investment decisions.

Increasingly, crypto thieves are setting their sights on blockchain “bridges,” which facilitate the transfer of cryptocurrencies between separate blockchains. [1]  Once a blockchain bridge is breached, hackers and thieves have the ability to steal massive sums of crypto tokens from their rightful owners.

Blockchain bridges have been built to solve one of the crypto sector’s critical flaws – a lack of interoperability between different cryptocurrencies. Bridges allow crypto users to transfer their assets from one cryptocurrency to another without the need to engage in the transaction-heavy process of selling off their initial tokens to purchase new tokens of a different cryptocurrency. [1]

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With the recent release of the Netflix true crime documentary, “The Tinder Swindler,” public attention to a unique form of financial fraud is growing, as is the number of lawsuits filed against the film’s subject, Simon Leviev.

The documentary chronicles the experiences of three innocent victims of the so-called “Tinder Swindler.” [1] These women each met Leviev over online dating platforms, and as their individual relationships grew, each woman faced widespread deception, collectively costing them millions of dollars. [2] In fact, not even Leviev’s name was genuine – although Simon Leviev is currently the perpetrator’s legal name, he was born Shimon Hayut, and only changed his name in an effort to prop up his fraudulent schemes by posing as the son of a powerful diamond tycoon. [1]

Leviev’s schemes operated in an established pattern, wherein each victim provided the financial means necessary to support Leviev’s lavish lifestyle, thus allowing him to attract new victims. Leviev posed as the son of the mega-rich diamond tycoon, Lev Leviev, on Tinder, setting the bait for his unsuspecting victims. Once he matched with a potential victim, Leviev’s deception began. First, Leviev flaunted his supposed wealth by inviting victims for trips on private planes, to expensive clubs, and to five star hotels across the globe. [4]

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A former Texas financial advisor, William Gallagher (“Gallagher”), was sentenced on November 3, 2021, to three life terms in prison for his role in orchestrating a $32 million Ponzi scheme. [1] The Ponzi scheme specifically targeted elderly Christian investors who believed they were investing their retirement funds with a trusted financial advisor, only to later learn that their savings had been decimated.

This sentencing comes after 80-year-old Gallagher pleaded guilty in Texas in August 2021 to three charges relating to the scheme, each bearing a life sentence.

Fraudulent investment schemes targeted at a particular audience such as this one are referred to as cases of affinity fraud. Affinity fraudsters often abuse their position as a trusted member of a particular community to draw in unsuspecting investors, ultimately bilking them of their hard-earned money.

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In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ponzi schemes have continued to pose a serious threat to unsuspecting investors here in Florida and around the world. On August 9, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint in federal court against Johanna Garcia, of Broward County, and two companies she owns, MJ Capital Funding, LLC and MJ Taxes and More, for an alleged Ponzi scheme. [1]

The complaint alleges that Garcia has been operating a Ponzi scheme in which she has taken upwards of $70 million from over 2,000 investors under the guise that the investments funded Merchant Cash Advances (MCAs) for small businesses in need. Instead, the complaint alleges, the investments are being used in a “classic Ponzi scheme fashion” not to fund MCAs, but to pay the “returns” of investors before them. [2]

While MJ Taxes has been in existence since 2016, MJ Capital Funding was formed in June 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic had already taken hold. From June until October 2020, MJ Taxes solicited six-month investments which typically promised a 10% monthly return, extrapolated out to substantial 120% annual returns. MJ Capital took over in October 2020, continuing to advertise as a source for MCAs while promising investors large and consistent returns.

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