Grove Point Investments, LLC formerly H. Beck, Inc. (“Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck”) (CRD# 1763) has many different complaints filed by FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), state regulatory organizations, and investors such as yourself. At the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, we have investigated Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck, its regulatory and customer complaints, and have also represented investors with claims of fraud, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty against this organization and its financial advisors.
If you believe you have a claim against Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck , you should strongly consider hiring an investment fraud lawyer. You should not wait until it’s too late to file a claim. The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., offers free consultations. Give us a call at 800-732-2889. Let’s discuss your case and see what we can do to help you get the compensation you need and deserve.
Can I Sue Grove Point Investments, LLC Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck, Inc. Corporation?
If you’ve lost money caused by Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck and/or its employees’ misconduct then the answer is, YES, you can sue Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck but the odds are you signed away your right to sue in court and agreed to resolve your dispute in a FINRA arbitration proceeding. Attorney Robert Wayne Pearce has over 40 years of personal experience in FINRA arbitration proceedings and knows very well how you can not only sue Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck in FINRA arbitration proceedings, but WIN that arbitration. The easiest way to know if you have a viable case against Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck is to call Attorney Pearce at our office at 800-732-2889.
Investment Losses? We Can Help
Discuss your legal options with an attorney at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A.
or, give us a ring at (800) 732-2889.
What is Grove Point Investments, LLC Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck?
Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck (CRD# 1763) has been registered with FINRA as a broker dealer since 1954. The company has been controlled by Kestra Financial, LLC since April 2021. It is still headquartered in Rockville, Maryland with small branch offices located throughout the United States. Its independent broker-dealer Business Model has grown through acquisition and organic development of primarily one and two person registered representative offices supervised remotely. Today there are over 400 Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck branch offices with over 700 registered representatives in every state. It is now one of the 50 largest independent broker-dealer and investment advisory firms in the United States.
Grove Point Investments, LLC Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck Has Many Different Regulatory Problems
Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck’s growth has not been without consequences. There have been approximately 17 Federal, state and self-regulatory body disclosure events; that is, final and formal proceedings initiated by a regulatory authority (e.g., a state or federal securities agency like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or self-regulatory body like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) ) for a violation(s) of investment-related rules or regulations. In addition, there have been hundreds of customer complaints filed against Grove Point for misconduct by its securities sales and investment advisory representatives that are not reported by the firm on its Central Depository Record. We believe one reason that Kestra Financial, LLC, cause the name change was due to Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck’s poor reputation and long regulatory disciplinary proceeding record.
We have reported and written about these regulatory problems and customer complaints over many years. Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck is a repeat offender: there are at least 9 FINRA reported disciplinary proceedings citing the firm with one form of supervisory lapses or another.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF SOME OF THE REGULATORY PROBLEMS GROVE POINT INVESTMENTS, LLC HAS FACED OVER THE YEARS*
Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck has been repeatedly censured, warned, fined and/or ordered to pay over $1 million for its own misconduct and failure to supervise its army of financial advisors.* A few of the notable FINRA Sanctions for its supervisory failures are below:
FINRA Sanctions Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck For Variable Annuity Abuse
FINRA investigated and sanctioned Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck for failure to establish and maintain a supervisory system, and failure to establish, maintain, and enforce written supervisory procedures (“WSPs”), reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable securities laws, regulations, and FINRA rules concerning multi-share class variable annuities. Based on the foregoing, FINRA found that Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck violated NASD Rule 3010 and FINRA Rules 2330, 3110, and 2010. Further,, FINRA found that Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to enforce its WSPs regarding consolidated reports issued by registered representatives to customers and therefore, violated FINRA Rules 3110 and 2010. The sanctions imposed upon Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck included a censure, fine of $400,000, and order to review and revise its WSPs regarding the supervision of multi-share class variable annuities.
FINRA Sanctions Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck For Unsuitable ETF Recommendations
As a result of the complaint, FINRA found that a Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck recommended to 1 of the brokerages customers, investments in several nontraditional exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and stocks issued by companies in the metals and mining sector. These recommendations were unsuitable for the customer who was a professional athlete with no investment experience, a moderate risk tolerance, and an investment objective of long-term growth. The athlete suffered losses of more than $1.1 million on these investments. Additionally, FINRA discovered Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to properly supervise the sale of nontraditional ETFs and failed to properly supervise the recommendations made by its registered representative to the customer. As a result, FINRA concluded Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck , violated NASD Rules 2310, 3010(a)-(b), and 2110, and FINRA Rules 2111, 3110(a)-(b), and 2010, and imposed a censure and fine of $50,000 upon the broker-dealer.
FINRA Sanctions Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck For Lax Supervisory Procedures
In the course of two routine examinations of Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck, FINRA staff found certain deficiencies. First, FINRA investigators discovered Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to apply sales charge discounts to eligible purchases of unit investment trusts (”UITs”) and failed to establish a supervisory system and written supervisory procedures (“WSPs”) reasonably designed to ensure that customers received sales charge discounts on all eligible UIT purchases. Second, the FINRA investigators found Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to establish a reasonable supervisory system and WSPs regarding the use of consolidated reports. Third, the regulator and discovered the fact that certain registered representatives had sent inaccurate consolidated reports to customers. Finally, FINRA concluded Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to enforce its WSPs requiring non-registered employees to register with the broker dealer any outside email accounts used for business-related communications. As a result of the above, Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck was censured and fined $425,000 for violations of NASD Conduct Rules 21 IO, 2210 and 3010 and FINRA Rule 2010.
FINRA Sanctions Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck For Poor Due Diligence Practices And Procedures
Prior to any investment recommendation or participation in any public or private offering of securities, broker-dealer has a duty to investigate the company who shares it is offering to the public. During an investigation, FINRA discovered that Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to enforce its own written supervisory procedures regarding on-going due diligence of securities offerings. Specifically, Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to conduct adequate on-going due diligence and address red flags in relation to three offerings from one issuer. FINRA concluded that this conduct violated NASD Rules 3010 and 2110 and FINRA Rule 2010 for which it censured the broker-dealer, and imposed a fine of $40,000.
FINRA Sanctions Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck For Supervisory Failures
During another one of FINRAs investigations, it found Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to retain written and electronic correspondence and develop and enforce reasonably-designed supervisory procedures for the retention of such correspondence. Further, FINRA found Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck also failed to establish and implement policies and procedures that could reasonably be expected to detect and cause the reporting of suspicious activity and failed to conduct adequate annual independent testing of its Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Program. In addition, FINRA discovered Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to prepare accurate order tickets for municipal and corporate bond transactions. Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck conduct violated NASD Conduct Rules 3010, 3011, 3110, and 2110, FINRA Rule 2010, Rules 17a-3 and 17a-4 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), and MSRB Rules G-41 and G-8. For all of the supervisory failures, Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck was only censured and fined $175,000.
FINRA Sanctions Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck For Avail Account Sales Abuse
Several years ago FINRA conducted a national examination designed to, among other things, monitor compliance with a breakpoint self-assessment required of certain firms who sold front-end load mutual funds. FINRA’s review of Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck found that the firm failed to complete a required self-assessment accurately and that this conduct violated NASD Conduct Rule 2110.
These violations of Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck arose in connection with customers with a fee-based brokerage account called an Avail account. At one point in time, Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck had over 500 customers with an Avail account. However, during the relevant period FINRA found that Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system and written procedures that were reasonably designed to achieve compliance with its regulatory responsibilities relating to its fee-based brokerage business. For example, Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck did not reasonably monitor the fee-based accounts to ensure that they continued to be appropriate for customers taking into account the services provided, cost, and customer preferences. As a result, a large number of Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck customers owning fee-based accounts in which no transactions were effected paid a total of about $32,431.56 in fees after the first year of inactivity in their respective accounts. This conduct violated NASD Conduct Rules 3010 and 2110, and so, FINRA censured, fined the broker-dealer $175,000, and ordered it to pay restitution to the affected investors.
*Above are only some of the regulatory disciplinary actions filed against Grove Point by FINRA. There are at least 9 more SEC, FINRA, NASSA, and/or state securities regulator investigations and enforcement actions reported on BrokerCheck as regulatory disciplinary proceeding disclosures.
Grove Point Investments, LLC formerly H. Beck, Inc. Customer Complaints
There have been hundreds of customer complaints filed against Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck stockbrokers over the years. We have launched numerous investigations of current and former Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck advisors:
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If you have lost money investing with these Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck advisors or others within this brokerage firm, it’s important that you reach out to an investment loss attorney quickly because the statutes of limitations can bar your claims. Call us at 800-732-2889.
Why Does Grove Point Investments, LLC f/k/a H. Beck, Inc. Have So Many Regulatory Problems And Customer Complaints?
Independent broker-dealers are notorious for their lax supervisory practices and procedures. The business model of these franchise type operations is to open many offices nationwide for steady growth of fixed monthly revenues without the costs attendant to a full-service branch office with on-site manager, compliance officer and operation personnel. The registered representatives of these independent broker-dealers generally operate as separately incorporated businesses. They are not employees of the broker-dealer and therefore not controlled in the same manner as full-service brokerage firm representatives. The registered representatives control their structure and costs to maximize profits and often leave the protection of investors’ rights and interests as their lowest priority.
The typical supervisory organization of independent broker-dealer operations is to have other independent contractors operate Offices of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJs) to monitor the registered representatives from geographically remote offices and then report to the main franchisor’s compliance office at national headquarters. The supervisors at the OSJs are not employees of the franchisor and often run their own brokerage, insurance and other businesses. They are not devoted full-time supervisors of the smaller branch offices. Consequently, OSJ managers cannot and do not supervise the day-to-day operations of the registered representatives of these Independent broker-dealers.
Generally, there is no immediate review of new accounts opened, securities transactions, business records, cash or securities receipts and deliveries, correspondence and business activities unrelated to the securities brokerage operation at these independent brokerage firms. The lax supervision leaves investors who have transferred their accounts to the smaller independent broker-dealer vulnerable to sales of securities that have not been reviewed or authorized by anyone other than the sales representative earning a commission. There may be no one onsite to detect forgeries of clients’ signatures on documents, the placement of inaccurate information about a client’s investment objectives and financial condition to document the suitability of a particular investment recommendation. Oftentimes there is no daily review of sales literature and client correspondence to protect against misrepresentations and misleading statements being made to investors. In fact, it is not unusual for there to be only one compliance audit visit per year at many of these offices.
These Independent brokerage business operations are worrisome to the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), which has documented more instances of sales abuse and consequently investor losses at these firms than the traditional brokerage firms with branch offices with on-site managers and compliance personnel.
Did Grove Point Investments, LLC Advisor f/k/a H. Beck, Inc. Misconduct Cause You Investment Losses?
When financial advisor misconduct has caused you to lose substantial value to your investment accounts, you have the right to seek reimbursement from the responsible parties. Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck is responsible like any employer for its financial advisors acts and omissions. In addition, it has an independent duty to supervise its stockbrokers and investment advisors. These cases can be extremely complex, and so having the support of a reputable attorney who is experienced in recovering investment losses for investors is the key to your success. Many customers make the mistake of contacting Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck without representation with an attorney about their complaints and have their complaints denied.
Related Read: Can You Sue Your Brokerage Firm?
Investment Losses? We Can Help
Discuss your legal options with an attorney at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A.
or, give us a ring at (800) 732-2889.
Consult With An Attorney Who Recovers Investment Losses Caused By Grove Point Investments, LLC f/k/a H. Beck, Inc. Today!
The securities attorneys at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., have helped countless investors over the last 40 years recover the losses from their investment accounts that were caused by broker negligence or misconduct. The firm has extensive experience with Grove Point f/k/a H. Beck cases cases, and Attorney Pearce is committed to seeing that those responsible for the losses you have suffered are held fully accountable.
Give us a call at 800-732-2889. Let’s discuss your case and see what we can do to help you get the compensation you need and deserve.
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