Finra panel awards investor $1.67 million in churning case

An all-public Finra arbitration panel has awarded a San Diego, Calif., investor the entire amount of her claim — $1.67 million in compensatory and punitive damages — against broker David Lloyd Barber and his firm, Madison Avenue Securities. Mr. Barber was ordered to pay Donna Gambee $1.2 million of the compensatory and punitive damages, while Madison Avenue Securities was ordered to pay the remainder, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. said in an award notice. In addition, the panel awarded Ms. Gambee attorneys' fees of almost $868,000 and costs of more than $44,000, to be paid jointly by Mr. Barber and his firm, which is based in San Diego. The panel found the defendants liable for churning, unauthorized trading, unsuitable trading, breach of fiduciary duty and failure to supervise. In 2013, Finra suspended Mr. Barber for four months and fined him $25,000 for improperly receiving five loans totaling $867,000 from several of his clients when he was affiliated with Raymond James. He concealed the loans from Raymond James by routing them through an outside business he owned. Raymond James terminated him in 2011. Mr. Barber then worked at First Midwest Securities and moved to Madison Avenue Securities in 2015. He began his career in 1986 at Birr Wilson and worked at Sutro, Crowell Weedon and Dain Rauscher before joining Raymond James in 2007.