Broker Charged With Targeting Fellow Immigrants in Scheme
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) – the security industry’s own, non-governmental regulator for firms doing business with the public – has charged a Brooklyn-based brokerage firm with defrauding three customers of more than $4 million.
The firm, TWS Financial, is headed by Roman Sledziejowski, a Polish-born investment manager, and catered to the Polish immigrant community in Brooklyn, according by FINRA.
The complaint alleges that between June 2009 and August 2012, Sledziejowksi asked customers to wire funds from their bank or brokerage accounts to another company he owned, Innovest Holdings. He promised to invest the money in a Polish bank and vodka company, but didn’t do so, according to the complaint.