FINRA Files Complaint Charging John Thomas Financial, CEO Tommy Belesis With Fraud
Intimidation of Its Reps. and Multiple Market Violations Cited in Complaint
August 10/2013

They make "Junior Brokers" stand on their feet for 14 hours a day for 300 dollars a week and the first 10 accounts, (if they are lucky they will open one before they get fired) go to their bosses. LOL, it is the epitome of a pyramid scheme.

Tommy Belesis.  That's all i need to say.  Scum bag, scammer, gangster, drug dealer, ect.  Someone you don't want to give money too.  These people know absolutely nothing about the markets.

Tommy is shady and corrupt.

They hire ANYONE.  Tell them you want to be a millionaire and you will have a job the next day, no joke.

Do not work at this firm.

Of course cold calling is what you need to do to be a stock broker.  But its nearly impossible, with everyone screaming in the back round, literally fights on the floor..  I have heard people out right curse people off on the phone and dehumanize them.  

WHERES THE ETHICS????

If you want to work or do business people a place that when you type in "john thomas financial" the first auto completes to come up are BOILER ROOM and SCAM, then this is the place for you!!

HAHAHAHA

Even with a phone number the fools at JTF would really need to change their tactics with the receptionists before they can even hope for a message to be relayed. I work for someone with a ton of money but who is also a very moral person who treats people with respect. If I went up to him with a meesage from a broker at JTF I'd tell him exactly how I was treated on the phone and he'd either toss the message in the trash or call back andinfotm him of his lack of people skills.

Absolutely do everything TMI said. I have been doing this for a long time and he or she is absolutely right. This technique will help you sort through the riff raff and after a while it becomes second nature. You'll learn to pick up on "junk" calls much quicker which will save tremendous amount of time if you get a lot of these types of calls. You'll probably get yelled at by some rude,  hotheaded broker but it feels good when you realize that they realize they wont be getting past you.  They hate the "gatekeepers" and think they are better than us but sucks for them because we have all the power. They should really reevaluate their people skills. Their attitude is reprehensible.

Belesis was a delegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention even though he is facing potential lawsuits.   Crazy.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/bahama_bummer_2dgXkvO2ea14lr4cAlNf7K

I heard from a friend involved in a republican organization in NYC that Belesis was considering a run for mayor in the future.   Really?  Maybe not after the NY Post ran this a few months back.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/shady_p ... dqvgSeE4hhvRO/1

Maybe he is a different person now.  The Post did mention his FINRA record, but the fact is the article does not even scratch the surface of what actually goes on inside John Thomas Financial.  If he ever seriously ran for anything I could only expect that the media would rip apart the working conditions and ethics inside JTF.  Also, did Belesis ever go to college?  I'm not saying that you need a college degree to be a politician. I mean, highly-educated individuals (politicians, bankers, you name it) are partly responsible for the mess we are in.  But the fact is that most politicians have some form of higher education.  He seems to go to great lengths to cover up what he has done in the past and (apparent) lack of academic credentials.

Lol, if you stayed in those til today, you would have had a VERY NICE gain.  Then again if you invested into anything 2 years ago, you would have a nice gain lol...

JTF is confusing...are they a scam? are they good?

Truth : some of the brokers are good, and most are not.  They hire people strait out of highschool, no matter what.  The only way they won't hire you is if you say you don't care about money and won't work hard for money.

here you go folks...

http://www.supportchristarantino.com/?p=177

Yes this guy did very bad things when he was young. I have no idea how he is able to be all over TV and hold political positions after admitting to dealing drugs, taking drugs, stealing cars ect... I don't get it! I personally had experiences durring our childhood that would blow your minds on this guy...

Worked for them for a while.  Hire people right off the street.   Put them to work as cold callers - no degree or experience required.

Tommy tells the brokers what they must pitch.  Even if it goes against their in house research analyst, Wayne Kaufman.  I experienced this personally after realizing a stock had had its run and Tommy kept pitching it.

The reason for so many calls - pure numbers.  Someone will fall for them eventually.  Brokers are required to call 700 times per day min.  You are supposed to call, pitch, close all in 5 - 10 min.  How can you find out what a person's needs are in that time?

Pure mill.  I f broker is successful they find a reason to fire him after they think he has achieved the most number of accounts possible.

BEWARE!!!!

A guy by the Name of Phil from John Thomas calls and is a complete A**hole.  Asking for my co-worker and claims that they know who he (Phil) is.  Phil likes to tell lies what his purpose of calling is.   His caller ID comes up as  INTER GROUP  212-299-7824.  When my co-worker does not want to talk to him.  I let Phil know and he wont leave a message.  I can almost here him starting to cry and just hangs up.    GET A REAL JOB PHIL and reading other reviews  YOUR COMPANY STINKS.

They asked for my Husband as though they new him. When I explained that my husband NEVER does anything over the phone, the guy basically called me a liar. Wanted to know if I knew that he knew my husband. When I asked how, he said through business deals. Then I knew for sure the guy was scamming me. He started spewing of crap and when I told him I was his wife of 30+ years he again went into a rant about life partner b***s*** and the Bible. I told him I don't believe in the Bible and he got really pithy. He said he'd call back and I said NO My husband does NOT do anything over the phone. He said tell him Melvin called. When I said Melvin who? he hung up. 15 seconds later the phone rang...him again. Not realizing I answered, he was talking to a co-worker about someone in  a turquoise shirt. When I said Who had the turquoise shirt on? He hung up...again. This is the 4th call since March 9th. "Melvin" was very rude and unprofessional.

yeah, jtf is a little rediculous

i cold called there a bit..its what u gotta do to become a stock broker, its what all brokers do. ALL

the whole thing of them not wanting us to give a number...stupid, i feel if they let me give a number, id have a better chance of getting clients.

Thomas Belesis and the rest of his crew are the only once benefiting from anything...the rest of the "brokers on there own" are broke as s*** and think they are the s*** because they are on wall street.

PEOPLE, WALL ST DOESNT MEAN ANYTHING BUT A TERM FOR FINANCE....the only brand name firm still on wall street is deutch bank..everything else is independant firms like JTF and MAYBE a few offices of single investors working for brand name firms because they live nearby .....it's not the 80s anymore.

but they will sponser u for ur series 7

Complete scam. Not only are they only a boiler room, they are raping you on fees.  My experience was a purchase of stock that went down 30% if the first week, but also a follow up scam to get me in a hedge fund that was supposedly going to buy Facebook insider stock.  The prospectus said nothing of the kind but had huge fees and commissions.

Try to move your account, huge transfer costs, account fees, etc. So one 100 share stock purchase and I pay a large commission, account fee for 2011' account fee for 2012 in November and then large transfer fee and account closing fee.

i used to work there, i left though.

is it shady? a little

will they steal your money? no

do they know what they are doing? some do

they cold call like crazy there, thats why people think its a boiler room because they dont know what it takes to become a stock broker...

they have WAY more junior brokers than actual established stock brokers who dont cold call.


maybe 15 of the brokers who work there make very good money, but the rest of hundreds of them make 300 a week and you stop getting paid after 3 months...depending on your senior broker, some will keep paying you.

the owner, tommy belesis, has a terrible track record, one in which was on of the main reasons i left the firm when i looked him up.

"hi im calling from JTF"

"JTF?? whats that?;...BYE A***OLE"

they have deliquents on the phones who dont know s*** about stocks...these kids put you in penny stocks because of the potential profit, but they dont know s***.  and the risk goes south,

IF YOU ARE GOING TO INVEST WITH THEM I WOULD ADIVSE GOING INTO THE FIRM AND PICKING SOMEONE WHO HAS EXPERIENCE OR A COLLEGE DEGREE AT THE LEAST.

theres on guy there with a GED, but hes actual good at what he does, very good.

idk, do ur research, they arent goign to f*** u over but its rediculous how they hire people so easily

JTF's "Contact Us" web page doesn't provide an Email address (strange, huh?), but they provide a toll-free fax number: (800) 598-9945.

So this means faxing, say, black pages to them is totally free to us.  Cool, huh?

called asking for "Tony" nobody calls our boss that not even his mom...its Anthony.  They act like they know him and when you ask questions they sound irritated that you are.  Its for future business investments.  So Wayne from John Thomas Financial 212-299-7873.  Funny because when you google the phone# it doesnt come up as a legitimate business which it should when you type in a legitimate # it comes up as a complaint or one of these sites. I didnt even give "Tony" the message i just threw it out.

I was an agent for JTF. Not many practice ethical business customs, therefore my time there was short.

I was there for a short period and did not appreciate the "high pressure sales pitch". I find it to be demonic. Very few, if any, broker there practice fundamental investment principles which are based on -risk, reward, and prudence. Question any and all investment institutions.
   Don't take anyone that represent a bank or firm as if they are in our best interest.
   Don't place your eggs all in one basket, consider other alternative to hedge against stock such as metals. Goldmoney.com is an ideal financial tool for the purpose of preserving purchasing power and is very liquid. There are pros, cons and unexpected outcomes to all situations.
   Don't jump into anything that is considered safe because no such thing exists especially if dealing in Federal Reserve Notes.
   We currently operate under a fiat currency system which in itself is highly questionable, however, can benefit a savvy investment minded person (individual) persons (legal entity)

request to be placed on the official "Do Not Call" list (DNC). They are required by procedure and FINRA to honor all requests to be placed on the national registry of "DNC" list.a

Jonathan McHale and Donald Durango call everyone "Buddy" too..must be the training.
STAY AWAY. They lost 70% (as in mostly realized losses) in a few months. Commissions are too  high, profits are non-existent. Sad thing is that I hung up on them months before, but thought they were someone else when they called back.My mistake.

We after taking calls for months with some suggestions that worked out when I tracked them, I gave them a shot. in 8 weeks he managed to loose 24% of my investment and charged 6% to broker them. All in 8 weks starting August 2011. Wish I saw these write-ups before. Didn't come up with JT Financial search. Darn!

Got a call today from "John Ecker" at "John Thomas" who asked for my boss by name.

They call regularly but never get past me because they refuse to leave a number we can call back later. 95% of all sales calls can be waylaid, if you simply demand a number up front.

When a cocky salesperson calls,
They will ask you up front: is your boss in?
BUT NEVER ANSWER THAT QUESTION!
Even if you are the boss!

I simply ask three questions:

May I ask who is calling?
And you are with Whom?
And your number?

Usually they will offer the first two - talk really fast and act like they are impatient.

After the third question they either hang up or try to bully me and I sound completely unfazed and repeat my question - three or four times if they act like they do not understand.

If necessary, explain if they are doing legitimate business then they can provide you a legitimate number for your boss to call back. Or they can feel free to fax or mail us some literature at their leisure.

Not that we would waste our time with them anyhow. It just is a technique to weed out the truly seedy riff raff. Why would we want to give our hard earned money to someone who did not have to work to earn it. Let them go out and do some legitimate work.

Be a good dog. Don't let the wolves in your door, and don't let them sniff at your books. They are wolves and you are the guard dog and your company is the livestock that you have to protect.

Met John Jones before and he is the biggest f***ot you'll ever meet.

Received a call asking if i wanted to be a broker, I said sure! then he called from his cell phone and I looked it up and he lives in the same town as I do.  I think he is a rapper, Bull*#$% you not, then looked it up again and on another site he sells travel uhmmm i dont even know!!! Its so bad. It is the John Tomas Financial and the name this time was "John Jones" His cell phone is 203-434-3584 and his name is Kevin Mauricin. Supposedly.

DO NOT TALK TO THESE GUYS!! I received a call from "John Lee" at John Thomas Financial. This guy has been calling tons of times and won't take no for an answer. If you have money and they know it -- they'll just keep calling. I listened to his pitch (they're running a boiler room for sure), and say "not now, but you can call back in 3 months". He called back 2 days later. I asked him again to call back in 3 months and reminded him now was not the time. He called again 2 days later. I told him that he was less likely to get my business if he didn't respect my desires (to call back in 3 months when I had money to invest). He started yelling at me: "Is this how you do business?! How old are you? 7 years old? Maybe 8 years old?" He called me a prick. I hung up the phone. Now, one week later the SAME GUY IS CALLING ME BACK AGAIN - but this time he says his name is "Sal". DO NOT TALK WITH THESE GUYS. DO NOT TRUST THEM. THEY ARE A BOILER ROOM SHOP. John Thomas Financial just wants to take your money, and their guys treat you TERRIBLE (call you "prick", tell you you're 7 years old, lie about who they are, etc). How do they honestly expect people to invest when their guys do stuff like that?!?

Sean Kaplan (or Caplan?) from John Thomas at 800-257-1537 constantly calls our company asking for one of our employees saying that "he's an old buddy of his". He doesn't know our employee personally at all which is completely dishonest and sketchy. I mean, you're going to lie right up front and expect to get called back? I didn't even pass the message through, but instead I called the corporate office and made a complaint about him. Not only did he straight-up lie to my face, but he was very rude in tone and when I asked him how to spell his last name, he said "i'm sure you can figure it out". RUDE. Totally disrespectful and I can tell you right now - he's never getting that message through to our employee he's trying to reach. Not so long as I'M on reception. Moron.

Rude loser named Nick. This place must be a scam.

Your boss Tommy Belesis is nothing but a ratt that just testified against his life long friend chris Tarantino today!, get a copy of the transcript on how he stole cars and dealt drugs for a living -  the transcript  will be online for the world to see that you work for a two face rat that would sell out his mother to save his own skin. I think the sec is going to be very interested in what Tommy had to say today at this trial- let's see how long they let this dirtbag stay in the business.