FINRA fined, suspended, and ordered former ACE Diversified Capital of Los Angeles representative Omer Ozeren to pay restitution to clients whose accounts he allegedly traded on a discretionary basis without authorization, and to whom he unsuitably recommended long-term investment in non-traditional exchange-traded funds that were designed for short-term trading, including both inverse and inverse leveraged ETFs.
According to the findings, Ozeren (CRD #6171522) from 2013 through 2016 effected over 600 discretionary transactions, including options transactions, in three customer accounts without prior written authorization nor firm acceptance of the accounts as discretionary.
An additional customer dispute in Ozeren's file evolved into arbitration and settled for $24,000, alleging improper use of margin in 2014 and 2015.
Investigators also wrote that Ozeren recommended 72 non-traditional ETFs without understanding their risks and features, namely that Ozeren recommended the non-traditional ETFs be held in customer accounts for as long as two months even though the ETFs' prospectus materials stated that the funds were not meant to be held for long periods of time.
FINRA found that Ozeren's unsuitable recommendation to hold the complex ETFs for a period of time longer than the short-term trading vehicle objective specified by the prospectuses resulted in customer losses and ordered restitution for at least a portion of these losses.
If you have invested with former ACE Diversified Capital broker Omer Ozeren or with any broker or financial adviser who has unsuitably recommended holding an inverse leveraged ETF or other non-traditional product for a long period of time even though the products' prospectus warned of "short-term trading" or the like, or whose unauthorized use of discretion or margin has proven harmful to your investments or interests, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.