The Law Offices of Place and Hanley, LLC

Securities Arbitration Lawyers Florida

The Law Offices of Place & Hanley, LLC is a nationally recognized securities and commodities arbitration law firm which represents investors nationwide. At Place & Hanley we represent investors in claims against their brokers, broker dealers, investment advisors, financial advisors and insurance companies. Our securities lawyers represent investors who have lost their savings when their brokerage accounts were mishandled. Our attorneys are experienced in providing focused and aggressive representation for investors who have been the victims of financial fraud, negligence and unsuitable investments.  Our firm has experience in prosecuting claims against the major Wall Street firms, including Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, UBS, Oppenheimer as well as many mid-sized broker dealers.

Our attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for individual investors. Our firm has experience handling group arbitration claims and class action litigation involving securities related matters. We have successfully recovered punitive damages and attorneys’ fees for our clients.  The attorneys and staff at the Law Offices of Place & Hanley are committed to representing aggrieved investors who have lost money because of the negligent or willful acts of the clients once trusted financial advisor, broker and brokerage firm.

Our attorneys have represented thousands of clients nationwide who were victims of misrepresentations, commission churning, unsuitable investments, unauthorized transactions, execution failures, excessive mark-ups, disappearing funds, botched transfers, "selling away" from firms, unregistered brokers, unregistered securities, improper margin liquidations, broker bribes, fraudulent research, "boiler room" sales practices and other wrongful acts. Place & Hanley has prosecuted cases involving stocks, bonds, "penny" stocks, "junk" bonds, options, commodities, mutual funds, REIT's, limited partnerships, derivative securities, collateralized debt obligations “CDO”, auction rate securities and other investments.

Attorneys for the firm practice before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) which was created in 2007 through the consolidation of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) enforcement and arbitration divisions. The firm also represents clients in state and federal courts to resolve financial disputes between customers, brokerage firms and other financial institutions.

Our firm has been successful not only in recovering our client’s out of pocket losses, but in multiple cases our clients have received punitive damages and reimbursement of their attorneys’ fees. Please visit the verdicts and settlements page for examples of the securities & stockbroker fraud cases we have handled for our clients. Our success is attributable to hard work, client dedication and an in-depth knowledge of the securities industry.

Two men found guilty for selling U.S. company’s technology

A federal jury found two men guilty Wednesday of economic espionage involving the theft and sale of a U.S. company’s technology to a competitor controlled by the Chinese government.

The jury returned the verdicts against Robert Maegerle and Walter Liew.

They were accused of stealing Delaware-based DuPont Co.’s method for making titanium oxide, a chemical that fetches $17 billion a year in sales worldwide and is used to whiten everything from cars to the middle of Oreo cookies.

A federal jury found two men guilty Wednesday of economic espionage involving the theft and sale of a U.S. company’s technology to a competitor controlled by the Chinese government.

Prosecutors said DuPont was unwilling to sell its method to China, so it was stolen and sent to a company called Pangang Group Co. Ltd., according to testimony during the diplomatically dicey proceedings. The jury heard six weeks of testimony.

Prosecutors alleged that Pangang’s factory is the only facility inside China known to be producing titanium oxide the DuPont way, which uses chlorination.

Man pleads guilty to sea cucumber smuggling charge

Federal prosecutors in San Diego say a man has pleaded guilty to charges he smuggled 100 pounds of dried sea cucumber into the United States from Mexico.

Sea cucumbers are leathery-skinned marine animals used in some folk medicine practices.

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy says Cheng Zhuo Liu (chuhng joo-oh lee-oo), a resident of Chula Vista, admitted to tucking the sea cucumbers into the spare tire area of his car before crossing the border last October.

According to the US attorney's office, their market value was between $5,000 and $10,000.

The particular species Liu had is protected under international trade rules, and requires a permit for import.

Driver pleads guilty in deadly bus stop crash

A driver who plowed into a Riverside bus stop, killing a woman and a 7-year-old girl, has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

The Press-Enterprise reports 46-year-old Joe Williams was ordered Thursday to serve six months in custody of the Sheriff's Department, but his sentence could include a work-release program in lieu of jail time.

Williams was indicted after prosecutors told a grand jury that he had a history of blackouts seizures and should not have been driving.

Authorities say Williams, a parking enforcement agent, blacked out at a red light on Dec. 28.

When motorists behind him honked their horns, Williams accelerated, veered up onto the shoulder of the road and crashed into a bus bench.

Twenty-eight-year-old Melissa Bernal and 7-year-old Aniya Mitchell were killed.

Coast Guardsman guilty in sexual misconduct case

Coast Guard officials in New Orleans say a petty officer has been convicted and sentenced on charges involving sexual assault and possession of child pornography.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher C. Bush's court martial was held in Norfolk, Va.

A Coast Guard news release said the 28-year-old Bush was convicted Friday on four violations of a Uniform Code of Military Justice article dealing with rape and sexual assault and one involving child pornography.

The crimes involved a junior Coast Guard woman and a civilian woman. They happened between January 2010 and May 2013 while Bush was stationed at a unit in New Orleans. The Coast Guard said it was not releasing the name of the unit to protect the privacy of the victims.

3 California men plead guilty in alleged pot grow

Three Northern California men are each facing up to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that they damaged federal conservation land while allegedly growing marijuana.

Prosecutors say Chou Vang, Vang Pao Yang and Pao Vang, all of Eureka, each entered their pleas in federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday to one count of willful injury to federal property.

The men were accused of clearing away trees and vegetation, using fertilizers, and failing to properly dispose of trash while growing pot in the summer of 2012 in the King Range National Conservation Area along California's Lost Coast. The area provides habitat for four federally-listed threatened species, including Chinook and Coho salmon.

As part of a plea deal, prosecutors say they dropped marijuana cultivation charges. The men are scheduled to be sentenced in July.

Court: Broad protection for whistleblowers

The Supreme Court says whistleblower protections in a federal law passed in response to the Enron financial scandal apply broadly to employees of publicly traded companies and contractors hired by the companies.

The justices ruled 6-3 Tuesday in favor of two former employees of companies that administer the Fidelity family of mutual funds. The workers claimed they faced retaliation after they reported allegations of fraud affecting Fidelity funds.

The case involved the reach of a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in 2002 in response to the Enron scandal, that protects whistleblower activity. The measure was intended to protect people who expose the kind of corporate misdeeds that arose at Enron.