Penson tagged with $15M arbitration claim

SAMCO Financial Services Inc. of Phoenix and its former clearing firm, Penson Financial Services Inc. of Dallas, has been tagged with a $15 million arbitration claim by more than 80 investors. The claim centers on investments in Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, or CMOs. Half of the group of investors is over 60 years old, and six are in their eighties, according to a statement by the attorneys handling the claim, which has been filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Two of the claimants are a couple in their eighties who lost their life savings, according to the statement by the attorneys, Robert Rex and Gregory Tendrich, both of Boca Raton, Fla. The claim, which names a number of executives from both companies, alleges that that Penson and others failed to supervise a group of brokers at SAMCO’s Boca Raton office from 2004 to 2006 and that the CMOs were mishandled. Further, that office was also not registered with the Florida office of Financial Regulation, according to the claim. Margin calls on CMOs, a risky type of mortgage-backed security, were at the center of the collapse of Brookstreet Securities Corp. of Irvine, Calif., earlier this summer. Until last year, SAMCO and Penson shared common owners. According to its FINRA records, SAMCO is no longer a registered broker-dealer. Penson’s attorney, Mark Hanchet, declined to comment regarding the claim. An official from SAMCO’s home office, who did not give his name, said the firm would not comment about legal matters.