While on vacation in Colorado, Mr. Moneybags became interested in the stock of a company called SafeAway, which
designs and installs customized high-tech security systems in the multimillion dollar mansions located in Colorado’s
pricier ski resort areas, such as Vail and Aspen. Upon returning to his home in Boston, he calls his broker-dealer with an
order to purchase 10,000 shares of the stock, which he learned trades in the over-the-counter market. Fast Eddie, a
registered agent with his broker-dealer, discovers that SafeAway’s stock is registered only in the states of Colorado and
Wyoming. Neither Fast Eddie nor his broker-dealer are registered to do business in either of those states. Under these
circumstances,
Vious and Associates is a small broker-dealer trying to generate more business. To this end, the firm had a
professional four-color brochure printed that provides the years of
industry experience of its management along with other information. The firm’s founder, Ms. D. Vious, is listed as
having over 30 years of experience in the industry. Ms. D. Vious has worked for broker-dealers for over 30 years, but for
20 of those 30 years, she was a secretary.
Has D. Vious violated any securities laws?
Ken Con is an agent with Blue Sky Broker-Dealers. He gets up early each morning so that he can study any late-breaking
news that may affect the markets and figure out ways to incorporate this news into conversations with select clients in
order to pressure them to restructure their portfolios by selling holdings they have in one particular industry to invest the
money in another particular industry.
Ken has been very successful with this strategy and executes more trades for his clients than any other agent with the
firm, but is he in danger of losing his license?