Stock Loss Recovery Co. Cold Spring Advisory and Louis Ottimo Uncovered

Posted By Brie Austin In Category: Business , Opinion , Reviews

When you look into investment recovery co. Cold Spring Advisory and Louis Ottimo uncovered it would appear that they are preying on unsuspecting investors. Maybe they are, maybe they arn’t. Investment recovery is also referred to as stock loss recovery, and Cold Spring Advisory LLC. claims to help — all you need do is pay them an upfront fee of thousands of Dollars.

cold spring advisory ripoff

When I came upon a press release about how Cold Spring Advisory was the leading stock loss recovery firm in the country, it sounded to good to be true. As it turns out, the only place they are mentioned as the largest stock loss recovery company is in press releases they’ve themselves put out.

There are running ads saying “Lost Money In Investment” call Cold Spring Advisory.

So I did some research.

As I reported on other blogs, when you look into stock loss recovery, or stock investment recovery, Cold Spring Advisory and Louis Ottimo claim to help you recovery lost investments.

In my investigation into this practice I found many reputable stock loss recovery firms and lawyers in the market that can help you if you believe — and can prove — that your stock loss was due to broker misconduct.

But Cold Spring Advisory isn’t one of them. The more I dug the more bodies I found.

Firstly, if you had a stock loss and are seeking help to recover it,did you reach out to a firm to help, or did they initiate the call to you? If they called you, you might want to question where they got your number, since broker client info is previledged information.

During my research I  found misconducts, complaints, and claims against Louis Ottimo and his family members (Anthony Ottimo and Louis Ottimo Sr.), as well as Cold Spring Advisory itself, and former companies they (Louis Ottimo and family) were involved with — such as EKN Financial Services Inc., Wheatley, Second Market Fund, and JetOne Jets.

In 2012 Investment News ran this headline: “Finra expels firm for ‘brazen’ defiance of SEC.”

The entire Ottimo clan seems to be involved defending themselves in one case after another, whether it’s being fined, suspended or barred by the NSDA or FINRA, or sued by clients of their various companies over the years. Both Anthony ottimo and Louis Ottimo have been barred from any association with FINRA, the regulatory body for the trading industry, for life.

Stock Loss Recovery Co. Cold Spring Advisory and Louis Ottimo Uncovered

Mr. Ottimo has had ongoing problems within the trading industry, and these are all listed on the brokercheck section of the FINRA site :

  • 1987 — Pleaded down a felony assault & battery charge to a misdemeanor. He didn’t admit his guilt but said that the State had sufficient evidence that a conviction would have been likely.
  • 1998 — found liable for unauthorized trading and judgement against him for $20,00 awarded.
  • 2007 — a $41,000 lien placed on him in a civil dispute
  • 2010 — a $6,990 judgement/lien against him for taxes.
  • 2010 — filed for bankruptcy.
  • 2010 — a judgement/lien against him for taxes $14,500.
  • 2011 — a judgement/lien against him for taxes $18,450.
  • 2012 — judgement/lien against him, civil, $500,000.
  • 2013 — regulatory action for failure to disclose information.
  • 2015 — permanently barred from FINRA

Some of the FINRA actions against the Ottimo’s include:

  • Louis Ottimo Sr.: January 2015 – Revoked (Failure to Pay Fines and/or Costs)
  • Louis Ottimo Sr.: July 2014 – Suspended (failure to Comply with Arbitration Award)
  • EKN Financial:    December 2012 — Expelled (Defying SEC Order and For Numerous violations) 
  • EKN Financial:    December 2006 — Fined, principles suspended (for security registration violations)

In 2006 Anthony and Louis Ottimo were involved with Jet One Jets Inc. — where they and AMEX were sued for taking $150,000 from Williams, then only provided $50,000 in services while refusing to provide the balance in services or refund. AMEX, based on the reseller agreement Jet One signed, was found by the court to not be liable, and then cross-sued the Ottimo’s in addition to the Williams original suit.

And according to a press release by Relmada Therapeutics “Mr. Ottimo lists five financial judgments or liens and several other disclosures on his FINRA regulatory filing, including a conviction for assault and battery and a FINRA regulatory action that barred Mr. Ottimo from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for, among other things, fraudulently omitting to disclose material information in a private placement memo to investors. This regulatory bar is on appeal. Mr. Ottimo eventually left Laidlaw.”

BEWARE PEOPLE, when someone [who themselves has been barred for life from the securities industry] calims they help you recover your lost security investments, all you have to do is pay a fee up front, without any guarantee of success, their past conduct and business practicies should be taken into account before you write that check.

One angry consumer posted a complaint were he alleges “THAT’S RIGHT !!! THE SAME GUY, LOUIS OTTIMO who STOLE your money at EKN Financial is now trying to take your money again!” He goes on to warn that Cold Spring Advisory buys confidential information on consumers and then targets them to elicit their cooperation is suing firms that the consumer has bought securities through. I will let you know what I uncover in that regard.

By example in that post is a link to a 2014 complaint filed against Cold Spring Advisory Group, LLC, Chris Marino , Anthony Ottimo, Louis Ottimo, Craig Weiss, William Weiss, Kieran Rodgers, and Fred Amato, alleging exactly that:

  • National Securities complaint filed in the Supreme Court of New York says that the aboveformentioned “targeted and contacted numerous National Securities customers, all residing in a small geographic area in Tennessee and all utilizing the services of one (1) particular National Securities Registered Representative, Stuart Updegrove (“Updegrove”). Cold Spring targeted and contacted these National Securities customers to induce such customers to initiate arbitrations against National Securities in order to recover on any “losses” that occurred in their brokerage accounts in the past six ( 6) years. As part of its attempts to convince National Securities customers to utilize its services and initiate arbitrations against National Securities, Cold Spring defamed and wrongfully sullied National Securities’ reputation.” 

There needs to be more regulations in place to protect against potential scammers like this. The new rules implementing “fiduciary” boundaries is a good step, but we need more diligence uncovering unsavory characters who themselves have been found to be untruthful and conniving.

At a time when the market is up and down, coming off years of the worst recession in United States history, it is amazing that companies like this can slide under the radar with high profile promotions, leaving the real facts about who they are in the distance.

But this is the world of digital media, where anyone who knows how to leverage the internet can boost their profile. People tend to believe what they read. So if Louis Ottimo and his wife Michelle Ottimo bang out enough content, they appear to be above board when they say they can help with stock loss recovery and/or stock investment recovery.

But the old rule applies: if it looks to too good to be true, it usually is!

How many times have you read a well planned ad that draws you in? You fork over your hard-earned money only to find out, ohh, the results are not what I expected. So too, it seems, does Cold Spring Advisory exploit people’s wishes.

Stay tuned as I will be researching and compiling other articles on other questionable investment services in future posts. Meanwhile, if you think you’ve been a victim of stock fraud, read an outline of what you need to know to move forward.

If you’ve engaged Cold Spring Advisory and been duped we’d like to hear from you.

There are countless articles and claims against Cold Spring Advisory and Louis Ottimo, none of which are flattering.   Here are some of the links I found:

Cold Spring Advisory and Louis Ottimo Uncovered

https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/2606438

Consumer complaint 1

Consumer Complaint 2

https://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/10jd/nassau/decisions/index/index_new/phelan/2009sept/017307-08.pdf

https://www.investmentloss.com/2015/11/finra-bars-broker-louis-ottimo-on-appeal/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/relmada-therapeutics-files-amended-complaint-against-laidlaw-and-its-principals-matthew-eitner-and-james-ahern-300209454.html

https://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20Adv%20FDCO%20110715-000113/WILLIAMS%20v.%20JET%20ONE%20JETS,%20INC.

https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/other-courts/2012/2012-ny-slip-op-51539-u.html

https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad2/calendar/webcal/decisions/2011/D31296.pdf

https://www.plainsite.org/dockets/rlmpd3i4/uspto-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board/hansbury-classics-llc-v-anthony-ottimo-and-louis-ottimo/

https://www.investmentnews.com/article/20121018/FREE/121019934/finra-expels-firm-for-brazen-defiance-of-sec

National Securities v. Cold Spring Advisory Group – New York Law …www.newyorklawjournal.com/cli/id=1202676624907

https://www.google.com/search?q=louis+ottimo&biw=1920&bih=995&ei=LSCRV5GyOYiwmQG0i6SACA&start=0&sa=N

Tags:

About Brie Austin

Co-author of I'd Do It Again, he is a columnist/reporter for a variety of magazines in the areas of music, lifestyle, nightlife, travel and business. He also writes business documents and creates copy for websites.

7 Comments + Add Comment

Leave a comment