“I do give Finra some credit for their report,” PIABA’s Stoltmann told Financial Advisor. “It is a good first step and something PIABA has been calling for since 2016. I think Finra realizes that this is an important issue.”
But Finra’s failure to come up with an action plan since acknowledging the problem as the number of unpaid arbitration awards and investors climbs “undercuts Finra’s legitimacy as a self-regulator,” Chicago-based arbitration attorney and PIABA Board Member Adam Gana said at the press conference. “It is long overdue for Congress and Finra to address this,” he added.
Gana’s client, two-time Super Bowl great and former Green Bay Packers offensive tackle Bruce Wilkerson, told reporters he continues to work as a machinist today after losing most of his retirement to a Ponzi scheme.
Despite winning a Finra arbitration award for $2 million in 2015, Wilkerson hasn’t collected a dime of his money back and his award remains unpaid today. “I lost most of my net worth. My outlook for early retirement is grim. I will most likely be working until my late 60s and perhaps never fully retire. Americans deserve to have their hard-earned savings returned to them,” Wilkerson said.
PIABA is hoping to change that. The group’s 2018 Capital Hill Day is Thursday. It’s a day when arbitration attorneys will meet with their respective federal lawmakers here in Washington, DC, in the hope of persuading them that a Finra-funded investor recovery pool is a win-win proposition for investors, the industry and regulation. Both PIABA and Warren are hoping to persuade more moderate GOP lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee to co-sponsor Warren’s bill.