John Simoncic of Westlake Village, CA Barred from Securities Industry

Have you lost money with financial advisor John Simoncic?  We are investigating allegations made about John S. Simoncic from Westlake Village, California.  FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) barred Simoncic from the securities industry.  FINRA was investigating John Simoncic, a broker who previously worked with Financial West Group, regarding allegations that Simoncic engaged in excessive trading or churning between August 2014 and November 2016.  FINRA alleged that two of Simoncic’s customers had cost-to-equity ratios of 84% and 76% respectively.  To put this in perspective, if an account had a cost equity ratio of 50%, that means the trading in the account would have to make a 50% profit just to break even from the costs of trading.

Simoncic was also alleged to have put his customers in the ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF and the ProShares Ultrashort S&P 500 ETF.  These leveraged ETFs were risky and beyond these customers’ risk threshold.

John Simoncic was a financial advisor and registered representative of Financial West Group from May 2014 to November 2016.  Simoncic was also affiliated with Securities America from October 2012 to January 2014.  Simoncic has also been the subject of two customer complaints, and he was previously the subject of an action by the Alabama Securities Commission in 1984.

Brokerage firms like Financial West Group have a responsibility to adequately supervise all representatives who are registered through their firm.  Brokerage firms also must take steps to ensure that their financial advisors follow all securities rules and regulations, as well as internal firm policies.  When brokerage firms fail to adequately supervise their registered representatives, they may be liable for investment losses sustained by customers.

Israels & Neuman PLC is a securities and investment fraud law firm with offices in Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; and Ann Arbor, Michigan.  We represent investors in FINRA arbitration proceedings in all 50 states, including California. Our attorneys have have recovered millions of dollars for investors against many brokerage firms in the past.

Click to view:  Simoncic, John FINRA AWC

Click to view:  Simoncic, John BrokerCheck 10.25.18

If you lost money with JOHN SIMONCIC or Financial West Group, please CONTACT US at 720-599-3505 for a free evaluation of your case.

Israels & Neuman, PLC is a private law firm and is not affiliated with any government or law enforcement agency.  Any investigation referenced in this blog is independent in nature and is being conducted by our law firm privately, not in conjunction with any government or law enforcement agency.  All information contained in this blog should be deemed statements of opinion derived from the author’s review of public records, not statements of fact.  This blog is advertising material and does not create an attorney client relationship, nor does it constitute legal advice.  Everyone’s situation is different and the question of whether or not you have a claim will vary on a case-by-case basis.  In contingent representation, clients may still be liable for costs.