Investigation: Reynold “Ren” Frank Vaughan III, broker at Salomon Whitney LLC

The law offices of Colling Gilbert Wright and Carter is investigating a potential FINRA arbitration claim against Salomon Whitney Broker Reynold “Ren” Frank Vaughan III. According to FINRA’s Broker Check, Mr. Vaughn’s record reflects multiple customer complaints alleging unauthorized trading, excess commissions, failure to follow instructions, suitability, misrepresentation, churning, and breach of fiduciary duty. His record also reflects a censor and bar from employment or association in any capacity with any member organizations for eighteen months in 1994 and an additional four month suspension in 2004.  The record also reflects Mr. Vaughan was denied a securities license in the state of Illinois.

Mr. Vaughan has been employed in the securities industry since January 1982. In the thirty-three plus years he has been employed as a registered representative, Vaughan has been employed by at least nine different firms, including Merrill Lynch, Shearson Lehman Hutton, Dean Witter, Reich & Co. Fahnestock & Co., Inc., Kirlin Securities, Inc. GreatEasern Securities, Inc, Maximum Financial Investment Group, Inc., Prestige Financial Center, Inc and his current employer, Salomon Whitney LLC.

Mr. Vaughan’s Broker Check record indicates three regulatory actions,  ten customer complaints filed against him, one termination, and six judgments or liens. A broker with this many disclosures is a rarity. Statistically, only about 12% of financial advisors have any type of disclosure events on their Central Record Depository (CRD). The number of brokers with multiple customer complaints is far smaller and in fact, statistics show less than 1% of all brokers have more five or more customer complaints.  The majority of Mr. Vaughan’s customer complaints alleged unauthorized trading.  For the most part, Mr. Burns has denied any involvement with the activity complained of. However, he did voluntarily accept the regulatory sanctions.

Liens and judgments are indicative of financial hardship/debt and a prime motivator for high commission generating trading activity. As concerning, a stock broker who cannot properly manage his own finances probably should not be in the  position of managing the investments and finances of clients.

Clients of Reynold “Ren” Frank Vaughan III and Salomon Whitney, who have suffered losses may be able recover their losses through FINRA securities arbitration. The experienced securities fraud attorneys at Colling Gilbert Wright have successfully represented hundreds of investors in cases of unsuitable trading, negligence, breaches of fiduciary duty and failures in supervision. Our case reviews are free of charge and our firm is only compensated if you receive compensation for your losses.