A barred broker was ordered by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel on Monday to pay $5.7 million to investors he allegedly defrauded as part of a cancer treatment scheme involving a private placement for a medical facility.
The $5.7 million included $4.3 million in total damages, $1,941 in costs and $1.4 million in attorney fees. The former broker, Dana Vietor, was also ordered to pay each of the 12 claimants $800 in FINRA filing fees.
Vietor's ex-clients accused him of, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, failure to supervise, fraud, misrepresentation, negligence and violations of the Iowa Securities Act, FINRA said. They sought $20 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages.
While he was a registered representative and broker, Vietor solicited investments in 2012 via an offering under Regulation D governing unregistered securities to purchase a building in Dallas to house cancer treatment and other equipment, according to the arb resolution award that was posted online Monday after the three-member arbitration panel signed the award Friday.
Vietor allegedly continued to accept investments in the same scheme through 2020, according to FINRA.
He had 31 years of experience in the industry as a broker with 13 firms, the last of which, from 2016 to 2018, was CFD Investments, also named as a respondent in the action. The arb panel, however, dismissed the case against CFD with prejudice.
During Vietor's time in the sector, 18 disclosures were filed against him, according to his report on FINRA's BrokerCheck website. He was barred from the industry by FINRA in March 2020.
