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.

Lawrence is also the defendant in two lawsuits filed in November. According to the allegations in these lawsuits, Lawrence failed to repay $1 million in loans made by private individuals. Reportedly, Lawrence stated in November 2013 that he would turn himself over to regulators “regarding allegations of illegal securities trading practices.”

According to FINRA reports, Lawrence has been accused of causing $140,000 in customer losses because of inappropriate trades during the time he worked with Southwest Securities and $71,000 in customer losses because of unauthorized trading when he was with Oppenheimer.

Under FINRA rules, firms have an obligation to fully disclose all the risks of a given investment when making recommendations, and those recommendations must be suitable for the individual investor receiving the recommendation given their age, investment objectives and risk tolerance. Furthermore, firms have an obligation to properly supervise brokers’ activities while they are registered with the firm. According to securities fraud attorneys, Lawrence reportedly worked for Southwest Securities since August 2011. Prior to that he reportedly worked for Oppenheimer until he resigned, following these allegations, in July 2011.

If you suffered significant losses because of unsuitable or unauthorized trades executed by Wade James Lawrence, you may be able to recover your losses through securities arbitration. To find out more about their legal rights and options, contact a stock fraud lawyer at Law Office of Christopher J. Gray, P.C. at (866) 966-9598 or newcases@investorlawyers.net for a no-cost, confidential consultation.