HELENA, Mont. (NMB) – Securities Commissioner Matt Rosendale announced this week that his office has reached a $101,000 settlement with a New York financial firm for bilking a Chester, Montana man out of $78,000 through improper securities transactions.
A press release says that Woodstock Financial Group and employee Joseph Derrico agreed to pay the victim restitution with interest and an additional $15,000 in fines.
Rosendale’s office had refused to license another Woodstock employee, Ryan Murnane, due to the substantial number of previous customer complaints and regulatory issues, so Murnane used Derrico’s broker information to execute trades on behalf of the Montana resident.
Murnane engaged in “churning,” a practice in which a broker makes excessive trades in a client’s account in order to generate significant commissions. Murnane’s churning in this case depleted the Montana Man’s account.
