• February 21, 2020
• Cambridge Investment Research

Ronald Paull (CRD # 2968273) is a Financial Advisor at Cambridge Investment Research in Archbald, Pennsylvania. Ronald Paull has been in the securities industry since since 1997 and previously worked at LPL Financial and National Planning Corp.

According to publicly available records released by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in 2018, the New York State Department of Financial Services Sanctioned Ronald Paull, after it was alleged that he “provided materially incorrect and untrue information within the meaning of Section 2110(a)(2) of the Insurance Law on his original application for a life broker’s license submitted in 2011. Also allege that RR failed to disclose that he was named in an administrative proceeding by FINRA in 2009.”

The aforementioned FINRA investigation culminated in 2016 with another sanction, resulting in Ronald Paull’s suspension for a period of 10 days and a fine. According to the FINRA sanction:
“Paull consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he began contacting customers for whom he sold and serviced variable annuity accounts and obtained their verbal permission to discretionarily rebalance their variable annuity’s separate account on a quarterly basis for a period of one year. The findings stated that his customers had agreed to Paull’s request, though in each case, Paull failed to obtain written authorization from the customer and his member firm had not accepted the customers’ accounts as discretionary. Paull exercised discretion when rebalancing variable annuity accounts for customers that had verbally consented to this arrangement. The firm was unaware of Paull’s conduct until during an internal branch exam of Paull’s office, Paull voluntarily disclosed to the firm his practice of obtaining standing, verbal authorization to discretionarily rebalance customers’ variable annuity subaccounts. After learning of Paull’s activity, the firm instructed him to stop placing discretionary trades and terminated his registration.”

For a copy of the FINRA sanction, click https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/fda_documents/2015046621101_FDA_RB7X3164%20%282019-1563175160588%29.pdf

This conduct previously resulted in Ronald Paull’s termination from LPL in 2015.

In addition, Ronald Paull has been the subject of five customer complaints alleging sales practice misconduct, including the following:
• November 2014—”CUSTOMER ALLEGES THAT THE ADVISOR FAILED TO DISCLOSE THE SURRENDER CHARGES FOR A VARIABLE ANNUITY.” The complaint was denied by the brokerage firm.
• September 2014—”CUSTOMER ALLEGES THAT THE INVESTMENTS WITHIN A THIRD PARTY MANAGED ACCOUNT WERE UNSUITABLE AND RESULTED IN POOR PERFORMANCE.” The complaint was denied by the brokerage firm.
• May 2014—”CUSTOMER ALLEGES UNSUITABILITY AND MISREPRESENTATION OF INVESTMENT AS WELL AS POOR PERFORMANCE.” The complaint remains pending.
• April 2009—”CLAIMANT ALLEGES REPRESENTATIVE DID NOT FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING A WITHDRAWAL REQUEST FROM A VARIABLE ANNUITY. The case went to arbitration and the panel awarded the customer damages.

For a copy of Ronald Paull’s CRD, click https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/2968273#disclosuresSection

Financial advisors have a legal and regulatory obligation to recommend only suitable investments that are appropriate for their clients’ needs and objectives. Their employing brokerage firm has a legal and regulatory obligation to supervise the Financial Advisors’ sales practices and dealings with clients. To the extent any of these duties are breached, the customer may be entitled to a recovery of his or her investment losses.

The Wolper Law Firm, P.A. represents investors nationwide in securities litigation and arbitration on a contingency fee basis. Matt Wolper, the Managing Principal of the Wolper Law Firm, P.A., is a trial lawyer who has handled hundreds of securities cases during his career involving a wide range of products, strategies and securities. Prior to representing investors, he was a partner with a national law firm, where he represented some of the largest banks and brokerage firms in the world in securities matters. We can be reached at 800.931.8452 or by email at mwolper@wolperlawfirm.com.