Did you lose money investing with Alexis Cooke (CRD# 5598604)?
Galvin Legal, PLLC is launching an investigation on behalf of investors who may have suffered losses investing with Alexis Cooke. If you suffered losses investing with Alexis Cooke, then Galvin Legal, PLLC may be able to help you recover your losses in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA“) arbitration claim.
If you suffered losses and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
As of February 2, 2023, Alexis Cooke’s FINRA BrokerCheck Report contains the following:
BARRED: FINRA has barred this individual from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm.
Disclosure Events
1 Regulatory Event
1 Employment Separation After Allegations
August 13, 2021 – An AWC was issued in which Cooke was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Cooke consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that she engaged in falsification of variable and fixed annuity applications involving two customers of her member firm and by falsifying the variable annuity applications, she caused her member firm’s books and records to be inaccurate. The findings stated that Cooke completed the variable annuity applications and falsely represented them to the firm as authentic applications
for transactions that the customers had authorized. In addition, Cooke completed and submitted the fixed annuity applications on behalf of the same customers in which she falsely attested to meeting with them, witnessing their signatures and reviewing their original driver’s licenses. The variable and fixed annuity applications were unauthorized and submitted to the firm without either of the customers’ knowledge or consent. Cooke received approximately $68,000 in advanced commissions for the applications, all of which was eventually recovered by the firm when the applications were not funded. The findings also stated that Cooke engaged in forgery of customer signatures and impersonation of customers. Cooke created fake email addresses for the customers, which she used to electronically forge the customers’ signatures on the variable annuity applications and submitted them to the firm without either customers’ authorization or consent. When the firm became suspicious as to why the applications remained unfunded, Cooke used the fake email addresses to impersonate the customers in correspondence with the firm, purportedly requesting to cancel the applications. The findings also included that Cooke provided false and misleading testimony to FINRA. During Cooke’s on-the-record interview, she initially denied creating the fake email addresses and using those email accounts to forge the customers’ signatures. Only after FINRA presented Cooke with evidence that an email sent from the fake customer email addresses shared the same IP address as her personal email address did she admit in testimony to creating both fake email addresses. Cooke then admitted to electronically forging one of the customer’s signatures on a variable annuity application but denied forging the other customer’s signature on the other variable annuity application. However, audit trail data provided by the firm after Cooke’s interview reflected that the other variable annuity application was also accessed and signed using a fake email address Cooke created. (FINRA Case #2018059175201)
Current and Previous Registrations
06/18/2018 – 07/12/2021 PRUCO SECURITIES, LLC. (CRD#:5685) BROOKLYN, NY
11/10/2016 – 07/13/2018 NYLIFE SECURITIES LLC (CRD#:5167) LAKE SUCCESS, NY
12/13/2013 – 09/14/2016 WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, LLC (CRD#:19616) NEW YORK, NY
10/01/2012 – 11/14/2013 J.P. MORGAN SECURITIES LLC (CRD#:79) NEW YORK, NY
10/22/2009 – 10/01/2012 CHASE INVESTMENT SERVICES CORP. (CRD#:25574) NEW YORK, NY
If you suffered losses and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
Due Diligence Requirement
FINRA requires broker’s to conduct due diligence on investments and to conduct a suitability analysis when recommending securities to a customer that takes into account the customer’s knowledge and experience. FINRA Rule 2111(a) states that “a member or an associated person must have a reasonable basis to believe that a recommended transaction or investment strategy involving a security or securities is suitable for the customer, based on the information obtained through the reasonable diligence of the member or associated person to ascertain the customer’s investment profile. A customer’s investment profile includes, but is not limited to, the customer’s age, other investments, financial situation and needs, tax status, investment objectives, investment experience, investment time horizon, liquidity needs, risk tolerance, and any other information the customer may disclose to the member or associated person in connection with such recommendation.”
Rule 2111 is composed of three main obligations: reasonable-basis suitability, customer-specific suitability, and quantitative suitability. Brokers and the brokerage firms they work for that fail to conduct adequate due diligence on investments they recommend or that make unsuitable recommendations can be held responsible for the customer’s losses in a FINRA arbitration claim.
If you suffered losses and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
Request a Free Consultation with a Securities Attorney
If you suffered losses investing with Alexis Cooke and would like a free consultation with a securities attorney, then please call Galvin Legal, PLLC at 1-800-405-5117.
This information is all publicly available and is being provided to you by Galvin Legal, PLLC.
Galvin Legal, PLLC is a national securities arbitration, securities mediation, securities litigation, securities fraud, securities regulation and compliance, and investor protection law practice. For more information on Galvin Legal, PLLC and its representation of investors, please visit www.galvinlegal.com or call 1-800-405-5117.
