A broker whose employment record is littered with customer complaints over variable annuities is now the focus of investor lawsuits over highly illiquid and risky private-placement investments.
The broker, Bambi Holzer, has 42 settled customer disputes, according to information posted by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. Four other disputes against her are currently pending, including one $200,000 investor claim based on selling private placements.
Ms. Holzer is currently a registered rep affiliated with two firms: Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc. and Sequoia Equities Securities Corp.
Variable annuities and private placements are high-commission products. Regulators this year and last have been combing the records of broker-dealers that sold private placements.
Last summer, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Provident with fraud. The firm allegedly sold $485 million in private securities to investors. This month Finra expelled Provident Asset Management LLC, the broker-dealer arm of the Provident operation.
Provident marketed a series of fraudulent private placements through Provident Royalties in a massive Ponzi scheme, Finra said.