Corporate Profile

Centaurus Financial, Inc., ("Centaurus") is an independent broker/dealer licensed to offer securities, investment advisory services and insurance products. Founded in 1992, Centaurus claims that it was formed with a singular focus – to provide unparalleled service, support, technology, and education to independent financial advisers. Centaurus claims that it is a leading independent broker/dealer providing a platform for over 600 financial advisers and 350 branch office locations across the country.

Centaurus is a securities brokerage firm which is licensed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"). Firms licensed through FINRA, formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), must comply with securities regulations and federal and state securities laws. When these firms violate regulations or laws, they can face actions by regulators, federal or state criminal prosecutors, or private actions by individual and institutional investors.

Investors Have the Right to Recover Their Losses

Because Centaurus is licensed by FINRA, they are subject to the laws that FINRA enforces. Centaurus is responsible for ensuring that their brokers are trading fairly, ethically and in the best interest of their clients. Ideally, they would accomplish this through careful supervision. Unfortunately, too often this supervision has been inadequate to fully protect investors. If a representative from Centaurus loses your assets through negligence or fraud, it immediately puts Centaurus at fault for failing to supervise their broker. FINRA law then dictates that you can hold the firm legally liable to recover your damages.

How FLG can help

Our law firm represents institutional and individual investors nationwide who have lost a substantial portion of their retirement savings or other assets. We represent securities investors in their disputes with their investment advisers or brokerage firms, such as Centaurus. Our attorneys have successfully represented hundreds of investors in broker dispute cases against large and small investment firms. We also have extensive experience working on the opposite side, defending the brokerage firms and financial advisers. We now use our knowledge of how the other side operates to get the best possible results for our clients.

Each lawyer and staff member of our firm is devoted to assisting investors to recover losses caused by fraud, misrepresentation, omissions of material facts, breach of fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, self-dealing, unauthorized trades, selling away, unsuitability, over-concentration,  or other wrongful acts, whether intentional or negligent. Whether in state or federal court, or in arbitration proceedings in FINRA or the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"), Furgison Law Group helps investors recover their investment losses.

Don't let firms like Centaurus get away with loosing your hard earned money. Contact us today for a Free Case Evaluation. We will tell you if you have a case worth pursuing.

Recent Misconduct, Negligence and Sanctions

Margaret Farwell Smith, et al v. Centaurus Financial, Inc. and Fera Shivaee – Centaurus was ordered to pay a $900k arbitration award to a California investor in a dispute that focused on a real estate investments. The investors alleged that Centaurus and a former broker, Fera Shivaee, breached their fiduciary duty, were negligent, made misrepresentations and violated industry rules. The investor complaint involved the investments in NNN Wesely Paces Tenant-In-Common ("TIC") and various other real estate investment trust ("REIT") investments and sought between $1 million in compensatory damages. Claimant asserted that these investments were not suitable for Claimants' investment objectives and risk tolerance. See Full Award >

FINRA v Centaurus Financial, Inc. – The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined Centaurus Financial, Inc. $175,000 concerning allegations that the firm failed to protect certain confidential customer information. Centaurus was also ordered to provide notifications to affected customers and their brokers and to offer these customers one year of credit monitoring at no cost. FINRA found that from April 2006 to July 2007, the firm failed to ensure that it safeguarded confidential customer information through an improperly configured computer firewall, an ineffective username and password, and permitted unauthorized persons to access stored images of faxes that included confidential customer information, such as social security numbers, account numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive, personal and confidential data.

FINRA v. Ralph Saviano – The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) barred broker Ralph Saviano (Saviano) from the securities industry after the broker failed to respond to FINRA’s requests for information. FINRA alleged that Saviano failed to report tax liens, a civil judgment, and a customer complaint involving the misuse of funds. During a routine investigation of Centaurus, FINRA allegedly discovered information regarding certain undisclosed liens, judgments, and possible customer loans. In June 2012, Centaurus filed a tip with FINRA disclosing that a customer had provided Saviano with a $66,000 cashier’s check made payable to Saviano. The transactions with the customer concerned a possible misuse or conversion of funds.

Additional Resources: