Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments (“Purshe Kaplan Sterling“) (CRD#35747) 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 Purshe Kaplan Sterling, 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’ve lost money because of misconduct at Purshe Kaplan Sterling, you have legal options to recover your losses. Even if you signed an arbitration agreement when you opened your account, you can still pursue a claim through FINRA arbitration. The documented history of supervisory failures and regulatory violations at this firm means many investors have valid grounds to seek compensation for their investment losses.
If you believe you have a claim against Purshe Kaplan Sterling, you should strongly consider hiring an investment fraud lawyer. You should not wait until it’s too late to file a claim because time limits apply. The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., offers free consultations to evaluate your case.
Can I Sue Purshe Kaplan Sterling?
Yes, you can sue Purshe Kaplan Sterling if you’ve lost money caused by the firm and/or its employees’ misconduct, 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 45 years of personal experience in FINRA arbitration proceedings and knows very well how you can not only sue Purshe Kaplan Sterling in FINRA arbitration proceedings but WIN that arbitration.
How to Sue Purshe Kaplan Sterling for Investment Losses
What Can I Do If I Lost Money at Purshe Kaplan Sterling?
If you lost money at Purshe Kaplan Sterling due to broker misconduct, you can file a claim through FINRA arbitration to recover your losses. FINRA arbitration is a legal process where investors present their case before a panel of arbitrators who decide whether the brokerage firm must compensate you. This process exists specifically because most brokerage agreements require disputes to be resolved through arbitration rather than court.
The key to a successful claim is connecting your losses to specific misconduct. Purshe Kaplan Sterling has been repeatedly sanctioned for failing to supervise its financial advisors, conducting inadequate due diligence on outside business activities, and failing to establish proper supervisory systems for variable annuities and mutual fund transactions. If your advisor engaged in unsuitable recommendations, unauthorized trading, excessive fees, churning, or other violations while the firm failed to supervise them properly, you may have a strong case.
The documented pattern of supervisory failures at Purshe Kaplan Sterling is particularly significant. FINRA has censured and fined this firm multiple times for failing to detect and prevent representative fraud, including a case where a representative defrauded a Native American tribe of over $190 million due to the firm’s supervisory lapses. These regulatory findings demonstrate systemic problems that may have affected your investments as well.
Who Can Help Me Sue Purshe Kaplan Sterling?
An experienced investment fraud attorney who specializes in FINRA arbitration can help you navigate the claims process. The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce has extensive experience representing investors in cases against independent broker-dealers like Purshe Kaplan Sterling. We understand the specific supervisory failures common to these firms and how to build compelling cases that connect regulatory violations to investor harm.
What is Purshe Kaplan Sterling?
Purshe Kaplan Sterling (CRD#35747) is a registered broker-dealer. It operates as a full-service independent broker-dealer, providing a range of financial products and services to individual investors and financial advisors.
As a registered broker-dealer, Purshe Kaplan Sterling is subject to regulations and oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). It is required to comply with industry standards and regulations to ensure the protection of its clients’ interests.
A failure to comply with industry standards by either its brokers or the firm itself can result in disciplinary actions, fines, or other penalties imposed by regulatory authorities.
Why Does Purshe Kaplan Sterling Have So Many Bad Reviews And Customer Complaints?
Independent broker-dealers like Purshe Kaplan Sterling are known for weak supervision practices because of their franchise-style business model. These firms open many offices nationwide to generate steady revenues without the costs of full-service branches that have on-site managers, compliance officers, and operations staff.
The registered representatives at these firms typically operate as separate businesses rather than employees. This means they control their own operations and costs to maximize profits, often leaving investor protection as a low priority. The supervisory structure relies on other independent contractors running Offices of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJs) to monitor representatives from remote locations, but these OSJ managers are not full-time supervisors—they run their own businesses too.
Because OSJ managers cannot supervise day-to-day operations effectively, there is often no immediate review of new accounts, securities transactions, business records, or client correspondence. This weak oversight leaves investors vulnerable to unauthorized sales, forged signatures, and misrepresentations about investment suitability. Many of these offices receive only one compliance audit per year, creating opportunities for misconduct to go undetected for long periods.
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has documented more instances of sales abuse and investor losses at independent broker-dealers than at traditional brokerage firms with on-site managers and compliance personnel. This structural problem explains why firms like Purshe Kaplan Sterling face repeated regulatory sanctions and customer complaints.
Purshe Kaplan Sterling Has Many Different Regulatory Problems
Purshe Kaplan Sterling’s rapid growth has not been without consequences. There have been approximately 9 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 customer complaints filed against Purshe Kaplan Sterling for misconduct by its securities sales and investment advisory representatives that are not reported by the firm on its Central Depository Record.
We have reported and written about these regulatory problems and customer complaints over many years. Purshe Kaplan Sterling is a repeat offender: there are over 9 FINRA-reported proceedings citing the firm with one form of supervisory lapses or another.
A Brief Overview of Some of the Regulatory Problems Purshe Kaplan Sterling Has Faced Over the Years*
Purshe Kaplan Sterling has been repeatedly censured, warned, and fined 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:
State of Maine Fines Purshe Kaplan Sterling for Failure to Comply with Rule Requiring In-Person Branch Audits
Brief Overview: The State of Maine initiated an investigation into Purshe Kaplan Sterling that revealed the firm failed to conduct on-site branch office inspections in violation of securities law rules. Specifically, the State of Maine said it issued Order 2021-12 that granted broker-dealers continued relief until December 31, 2021 from on-site branch office inspections requirements contained in Maine Office of Securities rules. However, the firm conducted its 2022 branch office inspections virtually believing that the firm was still under FINRA’s continued relief to conduct branch audits in person. As a result, the firm was fined.
FINRA Censures and Fines Purshe Kaplan Sterling for Failure to Conduct Adequate Due Diligence of Registered Representative’s Outside Business Activities
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the findings, Purshe Kaplan Sterling consented to the sanctions and to the entry of FINRA findings that it failed to conduct adequate due diligence of its registered representatives’ outside business activities. FINRA said the firm, in approving the outside business activities of its registered representatives, did not obtain or review information such as sample client advisory agreements, compensation received for investment advisory services, and other information sufficient to determine whether these activities involved private securities transactions. FINRA also said the firm did not have an adequate supervisory system for the review of the performance reports used by its registered persons. In other words, the firm’s written procedures concerning performance reports did not include any provision for the supervisory review of the contents of these reports. As a result, the firm was censured and fined $200,000.
FINRA Censures and Fines Purshe Kaplan Sterling for Registered Representative’s Fraud on Native American Tribe
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the allegations, Purshe Kaplan Sterling consented to the sanctions and to the entry of FINRA findings that its supervisory failures prevented it from detecting and halting its registered representative’s fraudulent conduct. FINRA said a representative submitted an outside business activities form notifying the firm that he would be starting employment with a Native American tribe as its treasury investment manager and would be responsible for managing the Native American tribe’s investments, including advising which investments the tribe should purchase. Knowing that tribal leaders relied upon his recommendations as treasury investment manager, the representative recommended the tribe invest more than $190 million in non-traded REITs and BDCs over the course of three years, generating $11.4 million in commissions for the firm, $9.6 million of which was paid to the representative. FINRA said the firm should have then implemented procedures to mitigate such risk, but the firm’s supervisory failures led it to fail to detect and prevent the representative’s fraud. As a result, the firm was censured and fined $750,000 and ordered to pay over $3.3 million in restitution.
FINRA Censures and Fines Purshe Kaplan Sterling for Failure to Supervise Variable Annuity Transactions
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the findings, Purshe Kaplan Sterling consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of FINRA findings that the firm failed to establish, maintain and/or enforce a supervisory system and written procedures that were reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the rules and regulations applicable to the supervision and suitability of variable annuity transactions. Specifically, FINRA alleged the firm failed to review such transactions on a timely basis, supply adequate guidance to supervisors to effectively review the suitability of variable annuity exchanges and the subaccount and rider recommendations associated with variable annuity sales, and implement reasonable means of identifying suspicious patterns involving variable annuity exchanges, such as exception reports. As a result, the firm was censured and fined $100,000.
FINRA Censures and Fines Purshe Kaplan Sterling for Failure to Perform Suitability Reviews of Mutual Fund Transactions
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the findings, Purshe Kaplan Sterling consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of FINRA findings that the firm failed to establish, maintain, and enforce supervisory system and written procedures reasonably designed to achieve compliance with federal securities laws and regulations and NASD rules. Specifically, FINRA said the firm failed to establish reasonable procedures concerning suitability reviews of customer mutual fund transactions; failed to enforce the firm’s written procedures requiring its compliance department to perform suitability reviews of mutual fund switches and obtain executed switch letters from customers; and failed to enforce written procedures providing for special supervision of registered representatives after customers filed complaints. As a result, the firm was censured and fined $50,000.
*Above are only some of the regulatory disciplinary actions filed against Purshe Kaplan Sterling by FINRA. NASAA and other state securities regulator investigations and enforcement actions account for another 4 BrokerCheck disclosures.
Did Purshe Kaplan Sterling Advisor 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. Purshe Kaplan Sterling 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 key to your success. Many customers make the mistake of contacting Purshe Kaplan Sterling without representation with an attorney about their complaints and have their complaints denied.
Related Read: Can You Sue Your Brokerage Firm?
Consult With An Attorney Who Recovers Investment Losses Caused By Purshe Kaplan Sterling Today
The investment loss attorneys at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., have helped countless investors over the last 45 years recover the losses from their investment accounts that were caused by broker negligence or misconduct. The firm has extensive experience with Purshe Kaplan Sterling cases, and Attorney Pearce is committed to seeing that those responsible for the losses you have suffered are held fully accountable. With over $175 million recovered for clients nationwide, our track record speaks to our ability to achieve results in even the most complex securities arbitration cases.
Fight back against any fraudulent brokerage with the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce. We proudly serve clients nationwide, including New York, Arizona, and North Carolina.
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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