FINRA fined and suspended former Triple A Partners LLC (Los Angeles, California) broker James Robinson Hedges IV for willfully failing to disclose $6 million of judgments, liens, and financial compromises and for misrepresenting his financial condition during a FINRA examination.
According to FINRA's report in AWC #2019062086201, James Hedges (CRD #2326924) failed to disclose the nearly-$6 million, including during a FINRA request for information from Triple A Partners specifically about liens and judgments against Hedges.
For instance, Hedges claimed a $1,867,342 judgment had been satisfied, but FINRA investigators found that not only was Hedges' wrong about the amount of the judment—the judgment was for $3,325,073—the judgment remains unsatisfied to this day.
In addition to failing to accurately disclose tax liens and similar financial events, FINRA found that Hedges failed to disclose additional unsatisfied judgments and tax liens. All together, FINRA found that Hedges' debts amounted to several millions of dollars, and that Hedges willfully withheld that information from investigators and/or his firm, Triple A Partners in Southern California.
In 2006, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission levied a civil penalty of $125,000 over Hedges' purported failure to comply with custody rules.
When a stockbroker or financial adviser fails to disclose financial woes, such as unsatisfied judgments, liens, and other debts, that information is withheld from firms and investors, effectively cloaking a significant conflict of interest FINRA has previously associated with increased rates of misconduct in other areas, such as account churning that occurs when a broker, investment adviser, or brokerage excessively trades an account to generate inflated commissions and fees.
For example, in March 2021, FINRA fined and suspended JP Morgan Securities broker Trevor Bradner Rahn (Los Angeles) for unauthorized discretionary trading in client accounts. Rahn's BrokerCheck report indicated a civil judgment/lien of over $763,000.
If you invested with ex-Triple A Partners broker James Robinson Hedges IV or with any financial adviser or registered representative who failed to disclose liens, civil judgments, or similar events which could have influenced further misconduct that has resulted in losses or other damages, such as churning, excessive trading, or unsuitable recommendations to invest in a risky product, please call an experienced FINRA arbitration attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.
All information in the above post was verified as accurate at the time of posting. We invite readers and the subject(s) of the posting to contact us with new or updated information.