VFG Securities Settles Claims With FINRA
VFG Securities Inc., a small broker-dealer, and its owner, Jason Vanclef, reached a settlement agreement with FINRA regarding allegations that he and the firm had customers overly concentrated in illiquid investments and had used a book he had written to pump up these alternative investments. FINRA had filed a complaint claiming that the firm failed […]
Twelve Firms Fined For Cybersecurity Issues
FINRA dished out $14.4 million in fines to twelve firms for breaches pertaining to the retention of broker-dealers’ and clients’ electronic records, which the regulator says made the firms vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. The firms include Wells Fargo & Co. and RBC Capital networks, RBS Securities Inc., SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc., LPL Financial, Georgeson Securities Corp. […]
Morgan Stanley Fined For Failing To Deliver Fund Prospectuses Online
FINRA fined Morgan Stanley Smith Barney $1.5 million for technical failures, including a faulty website link that obstructed client’s from viewing fund prospectuses. [su_spacer size=”10″] For a number of years before 2013, Morgan Stanley made mandated fund prospectuses available to customers online. However, as the FINRA settlement states, in November 2013, Morgan Stanley updated its […]
Wells Fargo Fined $1M For Client Reports
FINRA fined Wells Fargo $1 million for failing to have instituted reasonable supervisory systems to watch advisors’ creation of consolidated reports for clients. The fine and settlement referenced two Wells Fargo firms failing to enforce supervisory systems “for the use of consolidated reports generated by their registered representatives through a particular application that the firms made available” […]
Dominic Thomas DeBruin Banned By FINRA
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FINRA Files Complaint Against Dawn Bennett
FINRA filed a complaint against Dawn Bennett for failing to testify in its investigation of possible fraud related to her clothing company. Bennett did not appear for testimony on four different occasions between April and September of this year, violating FINRA’s rules, according to FINRA’s complaint. The charges come roughly a year after the regulator […]
Oppenheimer & Co. Fined By FINRA
FINRA fined Oppenheimer & Co. $3.4 Million for failures in reporting internal discipline, giving information in arbitration cases, and offering sales discounts to customers. [su_spacer size=”10″] Between 2008 and 2016, the firm was on average four years late making 365 filings with FINRA, pertaining to disciplinary actions it took against its own brokers and arbitration […]
Mark Tauzin Suspended For Unsuitable Trading
FINRA suspended former LPL Financial broker Mark Tauzin for engaging in unsuitable short-term trading of unit investment trusts as well as maintaining blank, signed forms in customer files. He was suspended for eight months from any FINRA registered broker-dealer, fined $20,000 and required to pay $205,000 plus interest to 14 sets of clients. That sum represents the […]
PIABA Issues Report On BrokerCheck’s Shortcomings
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Debra Ferrara Suspended For Fraudulent Wire Transfer
Debra Ferrara, a former client administrator at Morgan Stanley, was fined and suspended by FINRA for fraudulently transferring a total of $108,680 out of a client’s account to third party bank accounts and for falsifying records. Morgan Stanley terminated Ferrara in December 2011 for falsifying information recorded in its books. Ferrara agreed to be fined […]