FINRA Bars Fort Lauderdale, Florida Broker Jeffrey Rubin Following NFL Players’ Losses of $43 Million

FINRA permanently has barred Fort Lauderdale, Florida registered representative Jeffrey Brett Rubin (CRD #2919082) from the securities industry following an investigation which revealed that Rubin recommended 31 NFL players invest in a now-bankrupt Alabama casino project resulting in losses of approximately $43 million. Rubin’s company, Pro Sports Financial, Inc., charged a $40,000 annual fee to professional athletes for financial-related “concierge” services. Rubin gained stature among NFL players more than a decade ago when he saved several players from a Ponzi scheme involving then-NFL player agent Tank Black.

Without admitting or denying FINRA’s allegations, Rubin consented to the permanent bar, and consented to the entry of findings regarding his misconduct. In particular, between March 2006 and June 2008, while Rubin was registered as a broker at Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation and Alterna Capital Corporation, he recommended that one of his NFL clients invest a total of $3.5 million, the majority of the client’s liquid net worth, in four high-risk securities. Rubin recommended and facilitated the largest investment, $2 million, in the Alabama casino project without informing his employer member firm or receiving the firm’s approval of this activity.

Rubin also referred other investors to the casino project while employed by Alterna Capital Corporation and International Assets Advisory, LLC without the firms’ knowledge or approval. FINRA found that from approximately January 2008 through March 2011, thirty additional clients of Pro Sports Financial, Inc., all of whom were NFL players, invested approximately $40 million in the casino project. Rubin received a 4 percent ownership stake and $500,000 from the project promoter for these referrals.

Although the FINRA action did not name any of the NFL clients who lost money, Yahoo! Sports identified some of them as Plaxico Burress, Santonio Holmes, Jevon Kearse, Santana Moss, Greg Olsen, Kyle Orton, Terrell Owens, Roscoe Parrish, Clinton Portis, Fred Taylor and Gerard Warren.

In 2004, Rubin settled customer complaint filed by former client and NFL linebacker Johnny Rutledge. Rutledge claimed that several signatures on an insurance document that cost him $119,000 were not his. Rubin settled the complaint for $40,000 without admitting or denying responsibility.

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