Tim O'Connor's Blog

Most recently, we have seen a number of separate schemes involving the fraudulent transfer of monies out of legitimate individual retirement annuities and variable annuity-type accounts into a bogus corporation.  In such a scheme, the sales agent appointed by the respective insurance companies has exploited weaknesses in the supervisory, compliance, managerial and administrative systems at the brokerage […]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued a number of notices and opinions designed to protect small investors from confusion when dealing with stockbrokers and financial advisors working out of retail bank branches. In the past decade, many hometown branch banks have expanded their sales operations to include the sales of investments such as […]

One of the most common profiles of investor victimization involves individuals who have received sizable monetary awards or settlements in personal injury actions.  Oftentimes, individuals in this situation lack the experience or resources to find honest and confident financial advice, leaving them open to victimization by unscrupulous financial advisors looking to trade the accounts of […]

Many private employers in Upstate New York (National Grid, Finch Pruyn Paper, Kraft, Alcoa, to name a few) offer retirees two main retirement benefits options – a fixed annuity or a lump sum rollover.  Fixed annuities are usually guaranteed payments for life, which can also be structured for payouts to surviving spouses.  A rollover on […]

In the past year we have seen theft and embezzlement schemes whereby monies in IRA retirement accounts have been stolen by financial advisers with the diversion of monies from legitimate financial institutions.  These accounts have been wrongfully transferred from accounts with The Hartford, Nationwide, MetLife, and SunLife America/Sun Life Financial.  In each of these instances, […]