SEC v. Michael Blumer, John Kuprianchik, David Page, Steven Thompson, Joseph Todaro (churning, 2023)

Alleged — pending

These are allegations. SEC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.

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In September 2023 the SEC charged five Salomon Whitney (SW Financial) registered representatives, Michael Blumer, John Kuprianchik, David Page, Steven Thompson and Joseph Todaro, with recommending and executing over 2,000 trades for at least sixteen retail customers from 2018 to 2022 without a reasonable basis, making a positive return virtually impossible. Customers lost over $1 million while the defendants and firm received over $660,000 in commissions. The claims were allegations.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this action on September 28, 2023 as litigation release LR-25863, filing civil action 1:23-cv-07250 in the Eastern District of New York. The defendants are Michael Blumer, John Kuprianchik, David Page, Steven Thompson and Joseph Todaro (5 individuals, 0 entities), who were registered representatives of Salomon Whitney LLC, doing business as SW Financial. Earlier versions of this record merged the five names into one defendant and showed the status as unknown.

The complaint alleges that from at least August 2018 through June 2022 the five recommended and executed more than 2,000 trades in the accounts of at least sixteen retail customers, a short-term, high-volume strategy with high transaction costs that made a positive return virtually impossible. Customers' aggregate losses exceeded $1 million, while the defendants and the firm collectively received more than $660,000 in commissions and fees. The SEC charges violations of Securities Act Section 17(a), Exchange Act Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, and Regulation Best Interest.

The SEC seeks injunctions, disgorgement with interest and civil penalties. Nothing has been ordered and the allegations remain unproven; the $660,000 is commissions the complaint says were received, not an alleged gain, so no money is recorded.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Churning — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2023-09-28 Litigation release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. If this matter has since resolved, been withdrawn or been dismissed, we want to know: submit a correction.