Jeffrey Howell, formerly a broker with UBS Group AG’s wealth management unit was barred from the securities industry for giving a client faux weekly account statements over a period of six years, according to FINRA.
Howell sent these reports from September 2008 to November 2014, overvaluing the account by as much as $3 million, according to a settlement notice accepted by FINRA. He is believed to have changed three UBS account statements to conceal the inaccuracies in the reports.
Jeffrey Howell created and sent the client over 300 weekly “Stock Tracking Reports” that were supposed to reflect the value of the customer’s portfolio but actually misstated it in amounts ranging from $289,000 in September 2008 to about $3 million in November 2014, according to the notice. Howell used his personal e-mail account to send some of the false reports, leaving UBS with inaccurate books and records, FINRA said.
According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, UBS terminated Howell in 2014, and he is no longer registered with any FINRA-regulated firm. He had been associated with UBS since 2002, when he first entered the securities industry.
Howell agreed to be barred without admitting or denying the allegations, according to the settlement notice.
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