Finra panel orders Houston firm and two reps to pay $2 million for securities sales

Eight IRA owners to get damage payments from IMS Securities and brokers.
NOV 02, 2017

A Finra arbitration panel has awarded more than $2 million in compensatory damages to owners of eight individual retirement accounts held by clients of Houston-based IMS Securities. Claimants in the case alleged that the firm and five of its brokers over-concentrated their retirement portfolios in "illiquid alternate investments in annuities and private placements, including United Development Funding IV, ARC New York City REIT, and NetReit." The all-public arbitration panel denied the claimants' assertions against three of the firm's brokers, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. said in a report based on the arbitration. The firm itself will pay $1.3 million in damages, with the remainder coming from the other two brokers, Joshua Patterson and Stacey Rognon.

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