Kingswood Capital Partners Ordered to Pay $11.3M by FINRA

A FINRA arbitration panel has ordered Kingswood Capital Partners, LLC, the San Diego broker-dealer behind the Kingswood U.S. brand, to pay former financial adviser Rikin K. Patel $11,341,369.25. The panel made the firm's chief executive, Michael H. Nessim, and its chief compliance officer, Mohamed A. Alsoraimi, jointly and severally liable with the firm for the full amount.

The same award denied Kingswood's $6,427,000 counterclaim against Patel in its entirety.

Interest of $2,465.75 a day has been running since August 26, 2026, and continues until the award is paid. By October 3, the total had passed $11.43 million.

Kingswood Capital Partners is a separate company from Kingswood Capital Management, a Los Angeles private equity firm with a similar name. The award involves only the broker-dealer and its two officers.

Kingswood's $6.4 million counterclaim was denied in full

Kingswood answered Patel's claim on or about June 26, 2025, and filed a counterclaim asserting breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, conversion, common law fraud, violation of New York General Business Law § 349(a) and intentional interference with contractual relations.

The firm asked for $6,427,000 in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages, attorneys' fees and costs, and asked the panel to assess 100 percent of the arbitration's costs against Patel. The panel denied the counterclaim, awarded Kingswood nothing and turned down its request to put all of the arbitration's costs on Patel.

Patel had filed his statement of claim on or about April 28, 2025, alleging breach of contract, conversion and civil theft. He asked for compensatory damages of at least $10 million "plus interest at the rate of 9% per annum." The panel awarded him more than $11.3 million, and the daily interest rate in the award works out to 9 percent a year on $10 million, rounded to the cent.

Who has to pay

As a general rule, joint and several liability lets a winning party collect the full amount from any one of the liable parties. Patel can seek the entire award from Kingswood, from Nessim, from Alsoraimi or from any combination of them.

Nessim has been Kingswood's chief executive since April 2021, and Alsoraimi has been its chief compliance officer since November 2018, according to the firm's BrokerCheck record. Kingswood, Nessim and Alsoraimi each signed a FINRA submission agreement in June 2025, according to the award. FINRA's standard submission agreement states that "the parties agree to abide by and perform any award(s) rendered pursuant to this Submission Agreement."

How the case was heard

Disputes between brokerage firms and the people registered with them generally must be arbitrated at FINRA under Rule 13200. The award classifies this one as "Associated Person vs. Member and Associated Persons."

The hearing site was Jersey City, New Jersey, and the hearing was conducted partly by videoconference. The panel held 18 hearing sessions over nine days: April 27 through May 1, July 21 through 23, and August 26, 2026. When the hearing began, one of the three arbitrators was unable to attend, and both sides, Kingswood included, agreed on the record to proceed with the remaining two: Howard Alan Grinsberg, a public arbitrator who served as presiding chairperson, and Linda T. Pellegrino, a non-public arbitrator. Both signed the award on September 25, 30 days after the last hearing session.

Christopher J. Major of Meister Seelig & Schuster PLLC in New York represented Patel. The award lists the firm under its former name, Meister Seelig & Fein PLLC. Alan M. Wolper of Thompson Hine LLP in Chicago represented Kingswood, Nessim and Alsoraimi.

Patel has worked in the securities industry since 2003, according to his BrokerCheck record. He was registered with Kingswood Capital Partners from February 2023 to March 2025, and with its advisory affiliate, Kingswood Wealth Advisors, from January 2022 to March 2025, working out of Fairfield, New Jersey. He has been registered with another firm since March 2025. As of October 3, 2026, his BrokerCheck record listed no disclosure events.

Kingswood's 2025 audited statements did not mention the case

Kingswood Capital Partners files audited annual financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its statements for 2025, which carry an auditor's report dated March 23, 2026, show revenue of $77.3 million for the year.

Note 9 of those statements, headed "Commitments and Contingencies," begins: "The Company was involved in various legal matters during the year." It then describes a lawsuit the firm filed against a client in federal court in Manhattan and seven customer arbitrations, the largest seeking about $350,000.

The note does not mention Patel's arbitration. By the date of the auditor's report, his claim, with its demand of at least $10 million, had been pending for nearly 11 months, and Kingswood's own $6.4 million counterclaim had been on file for nearly nine. A separate note says the company evaluated subsequent events through March 23, 2026, "noting no matters requiring disclosure in the financial statements."

What happens next for the Kingswood award

FINRA arbitration awards are final. Rule 13904 provides that, unless applicable law directs otherwise, awards "are final and are not subject to review or appeal." There is no appeal within FINRA.

The same rule requires that monetary awards "be paid within 30 days of receipt unless a motion to vacate has been filed with a court of competent jurisdiction." If the respondents received the award the day it was served, the 30 days run through October 25. The exception requires a motion actually filed in court. An announced plan to challenge the award does not stop the clock.

Interest does not wait for the deadline. Under the award, it has been accruing since August 26 at $2,465.75 a day, roughly $74,000 every 30 days.

Kingswood's only way to get the award set aside is in court. Section 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act allows a court to vacate an award only on narrow grounds: an award procured by corruption, fraud or undue means; evident partiality or corruption by the arbitrators; specified misconduct; or arbitrators who exceeded their powers. A court does not retry the case. Patel can ask a court to confirm the award within one year under Section 9 and have judgment entered on it.

FINRA has its own tool when awards go unpaid. Under Rule 9554, if a member firm or an associated person fails to comply with an arbitration award, FINRA staff may serve written notice that failure to comply within 21 days "will result in a suspension or cancellation of membership or a suspension from associating with any member." The rule reaches individuals as well as firms.

Who owns Kingswood Capital Partners

BrokerCheck lists Kingswood Capital Partners, LLC under CRD number 288898. It is a Nevada limited liability company formed in 2016, with its main office in San Diego, a mailing address in Manhattan and registrations in 53 states and territories. Its direct owner is Kingswood US, LLC, which sits under Kingswood Holdings Ltd, a wealth management group once listed on London's AIM market, through two intermediate companies.

The firm took its current name after Kingswood Holdings bought Chalice Capital Partners in 2020 and renamed it. In March 2025, HSQ Investment Limited, which described itself as "a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of funds managed and/or advised by Pollen Street Capital Limited," announced a cash offer for the Kingswood Holdings shares it did not already own. It held 89.39 percent at the time. Kingswood Holdings' shares stopped trading on London's AIM market on April 17, 2025.

Pollen Street Capital is the investment manager that combined with Honeycomb Investment Trust in 2022 to form London-listed Pollen Street Group Limited, according to Reuters. On September 23, 2026, Pollen Street Group Limited announced that it had begun preliminary discussions with a limited number of third parties about whether they might be interested in making a possible offer for the company.

Neither HSQ, Kingswood Holdings nor any Pollen Street entity is a party to the arbitration. The award binds Kingswood Capital Partners, Nessim and Alsoraimi.