FINRA Bars Wade James Lawrence from Financial Industry

Recently, Wade James Lawrence was barred from the financial industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Investors’ rights lawyers are exploring accusations made against Lawrence regarding misappropriation of funds during his time as a broker. According to the FINRA report, Lawrence failed to respond to these allegations, and in doing so forfeited his opportunity to remain a practicing broker.

Lawrence’s most recent history as a broker was with Southwest Securities, where he was registered from August 2011 through December 2013. Prior to that, he worked for Oppenheimer & Co. from June 2008 through July 2011, and Merrill Lynch from April 2003 through June 2008. During his time at both Southwest Securities and Oppenheimer & Co., there were several complaints issued against Lawrence by customers who claimed to have received unsuitable recommendations. One client even alleged that Lawrence borrowed $850,000 and failed to return the funds. This alleged borrowing occurred while Lawrence was with Oppenheimer & Co. and the FINRA report states that he intended to “…pay for the losses. I [Lawrence] then voluntary resigned and left the appropriate funds in my personal account to be used to cover the losses.” Despite this response, Lawrence failed to appear for testimony with FINRA regarding this, or any of the other complaints, which included additional allegations of misappropriated funds and failure to provide appropriate investment recommendations.

If you suffered significant losses as a result of doing business with Wade James Lawrence or believe that another stockbroker or financial advisor led you to inappropriately use investment funds, you may be able to recover your losses through securities arbitration. To find out more about your legal rights and options, contact a securities fraud attorney at the Law Office of Christopher J. Gray, P.C. at (866) 966-9598 or newcases@investorlawyers.net for a no-cost, confidential consultation.