Posted December 12th, 2016.

A FINRA arbitration panel in San Diego issued an award to plaintiff, investor Ted Zimbelman, for damages against National Securities Corporation and San Diego-based high-profile broker Kyle Harrington in a claim alleging securities fraud and other investment-related violations.

In a victory for Zimbelman, the FINRA panel ruled that Harrington and his employer National Securities Corporation must pay Zimbelman $155,000, resulting from allegations that over a 7-month period Zimbelman was the victim of a stock scam involving restricted penny stock in a shell company.

Harrington has developed a high-profile persona and frequently appears on local TV news as well as national news programs, including Fox and CNBC. Currently, Harrington is a local contributor to KUSI News and appears twice a week on the San Diego news program.

Zimbelman’s San Diego-based lawyer Charles Field, a partner at Sanford Heisler, LLP, said, “The issues, in this case, dealt with basic investors’ rights — the right to receive the entire truth and the right to be dealt with fairly and equitably. Millions of Americans who entrust their hard-earned savings to brokers like Kyle Harrington and National Securities Corporation depend on the enforcement of these significant rights, and we’re delighted that justice prevailed in this case.”

The company at issue, Islet Science, was in the process of developing a miracle treatment for diabetes. But in reality, the company had no earnings, no revenue, and no operations. Harrington, who was also a paid Islet consultant, touted the stock and then sold shares he owned to Zimbelman just before the price collapsed in 2013.