Securities principal suspended and fined for allegedly falsely certifying that he had personally completed the continuing education required to renew an insurance license
Another person had completed 15 hours of insurance continuing education on his behalf.
FINRA Rule 2010
Securities representative suspended and fined for allegedly falsely certifying that he had personally completed the continuing education required to renew an insurance license
Another person had completed 15 hours of insurance continuing education on his behalf.
FINRA Rule 2010
Former securities representative suspended and fined for allegedly participating in private security transactions without obtaining approval
The representative received compensation as a result of participating in private securities transactions with at least four individuals who were all clients of the firms he was or had been associated with.
No written approval was obtained from either firm in connection with these transactions.
A disgorgement of $8,000 plus interest has been ordered.
FINRA Rule 2010 FINRA Rule 3280
Kepler Capital Markets censured and fined for allegedly overstating its advertised trade volume
Due to a misconfiguration in the end-of-day reconciliation process, the firm mistakenly double-counted some of the orders that it received. As a consequence of this it overstated its trade volume in approximately 377,000 instances by approximately 2.1 bilion shares.
The firm’s system and process was not reasonably designed to assess and ensure that it accurately reported its trade volume data, including conducting adequate testing of these data submissions.
FINRA Rule 2010 FINRA Rule 3110 FINRA Rule 5210
Investment banking principal suspended and fined for allegedly failing to disclose a non-investment related material event
FINRA Rule 1122 FINRA Rule 2010
Former securities representative suspended and fined for allegedly disclosing non-public personal client information without authorization
The representative downloaded the personal non-public information of 2,300 firm customers into a spreadsheet and sent it unencrypted to a family member’s private email address, then forwarded it to someone he expected to work with at his future employer.
FINRA Rule 2010
Former securities principal suspended and fined for allegedly failing to reasonably supervise communications with the public
The firm promoted a stock loan program that constituted an unsecured loan that lacked FDIC insurance or SIPC protection.
The firm’s retail communications failed to adequately disclose those facts or the fact that the customers enrolled in the program would lose their rights to dividends and other distributions if their shares were borrowed.
FINRA Rule 2010 FINRA Rule 3110
Former securities representative charged with allegedly failing to appear for on-the-record testimony
This is a complaint and not an AWC
FINRA Rule 2010 FINRA Rule 8210
Securities representative suspended and fined for allegedly falsely certifying that she had personally completed the continuing education required to renew an insurance license
Another person had completed 15 hours of insurance continuing education on her behalf.
FINRA Rule 2010
Steward Partners Investment Solutions censured and fined for allegedly failing to reasonably supervise the transmittals of customer funds using the ACH system
Third parties illegally obtained information relating to a checking feature attached to a customer’s account. This information was used to externally initiate 278 fraudulent ACH transfers.
The firm utilized a proprietary tool to flag suspicious ACH activity, but only in connection with internally initiated ACH transfers. The firm was unaware that externally initiated transfers remained unmonitored.
However, the firm also failed to identify or investigate the red flags related to the fraudulent transfers, including the fact that they were out of character, escalated in frequency and were highly unusual when considering the typical transfer activity levels in other accounts at the firm.
A representative at the firm also missed a chance to identify fraudulent transactions during a regular end-of-year review of the account.
FINRA Rule 2010 FINRA Rule 3110 FINRA Regulatory Notice 09-64
Mutual Securities censured and fined for allegedly entering into settlement agreements with customers that contained impermissible confidentiality provisions
Provisions in three of the agreements had the potential to impede regulatory investigations.
FINRA Rule 2010 NASD NTM 95-87 NASD NTM 04-44 NASD NTM 14-40
| Unless otherwise noted all respondents accepted and consented to FINRA’s findings without admitting or denying them. |