SEC: N.Y. investment firm misled S. Fla. seniors - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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"They used free lunches as the low-tech bait for their high-scal scheme," said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC'x Division of Enforcement. The SEC alleges elderly and retired investors were lured into purchasing highly unsuitablw variable annuities with lucrative sales commissions while ignoring the financialo goalsof victims. The SEC alleges that Eric J. Browb of Highland Beach, Matthew J. Collins of Boyntomn Beach, Kevin J. Walsh of Viera, and Mark W. Wellsw of Boca Raton, were amonf those offering and sellingthe annuities.
It’sd alleged that the firm and its representative s earned millions of dollars in sales PCS is aregistered broker-dealer and wholly-ownee subsidiary of Gilman Ciocia, an income tax preparation business headquarteredf in Poughkeepsie that offers financial services in New New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida. Robert Heim, a NewYork attorney who representsPrime Capital, Gilman Ciocia, and several of the including Collins and Wells, said the conduct at issue in the complainyt is "very old" and occurre d in the late 1990s and earl y 2000. He said the company reacherd a settlement withthe (FINRA), when it was called the (NASD).
As part of that the company implementedsome wide-ranging updatesx to its supervisory and compliance systems in Heim said. He added that he didn'g know why the SEC was going over thesame "All of these issues were addressed yearsx ago and we feel the company's responsde has been appropriate," he said. While Brown and Walsu have since left, Collins and Wellsz are still withthe company, he said. An administrative law judgwe will determine whether the allegations againstr the respondents aretrue and, if so, whethef they should be ordered to ceasee and desist from future violations.