Category Archives: FINRA
Aegis Fined for Selling Unregistered Penny Stocks
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that it has settled enforcement actions with Aegis Capital Corp. (“Aegis”), two of its chief compliance officers, and its CEO. Aegis, based in New York City, has been a member of FINRA, or its predecessor the National Association of Securities Dealers, since 1984. It is a full… Read More »
LPL Financial Sanctioned for Supervisory Failures
According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), it has entered into a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (“AWC”) with brokerage firm LPL Financial LLC for supervisory failures in a number of areas. The AWC reflects that LPL neither admitted nor denied FINRA’s charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings. According… Read More »
FINRA Fines RBC for Reverse Convertibles Sales
According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), RBC Capital Markets, LLC (“RBC”) has agreed to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (“AWC”) concerning its sales of complex reverse exchangeable securities commonly called “reverse convertibles.” RBC is a brokerage firm that is indirectly owned by the Royal Bank of Canada. A reverse convertible… Read More »
FINRA Increases Arbitrator Pay- Passes Costs to Parties
According to Regulatory Notice 14-49 (“RN 14-49”) issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), FINRA is increasing the pay for arbitrators assigned to hear FINRA cases and passing the costs of the increase on to the parties. The new rule applies to all cases filed on or after December 15, 2014, it is… Read More »
Former Florida Broker Permanently Barred for Alleged Theft
According to his BrokerCheck Report, Jeffrey Brian Grove of Melbourne, Florida has been permanently barred from the financial services industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). According to FINRA, Grove was employed as a registered representative at the Melbourne, Florida branch office of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. from 1999 until he was… Read More »
FINRA Set to Resume Processing Securities Arbitration Cases Involving Puerto Rico Municipal Bonds
According to InvestmentNews, last month the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that it had essentially stopped processing securities arbitration cases involving Puerto Rico municipal bonds. FINRA claimed it needed to address a number of challenges with the cases such as the fact that the primary language in Puerto Rico is Spanish and FINRA… Read More »
FINRA Removes Securities Arbitrator From its Roster for Allegedly Lying About Being a Lawyer
According to Reuters and other news sources, a securities arbitrator has been removed from FINRA’s arbitrator roster after it was discovered that he allegedly lied about being a lawyer. A FINRA spokesperson reportedly confirmed to Reuters that securities arbitrator James H. Frank of Santa Barbara, California was removed from FINRA’s arbitrator pool in 2013…. Read More »
FINRA Update: BrokerCheck, Arbitrator Classification, and Expungement
The FINRA Board of Governors has accepted several rule proposals that will now make their way to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for review, public comment and final approval. BrokerCheck FINRA maintains the BrokerCheck database which contains the professional backgrounds of stock brokers, brokerage firms, and investment advisers. BrokerCheck is a free tool… Read More »
FINRA Fines Member $8 Million for Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Failures Relating to Penny Stock Transactions
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that it has levied fines against brokerage firm Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (“BBH”), based in New York, and its former Global Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer Harold Crawford. In a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent dated February 4, 2014 (“AWC”), BBH and Crawford consented to fines… Read More »
FINRA Proposes Rule Change Calling For More Transparent Pricing of Non-Traded REITs
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has proposed a change to NASD Rule 2340 (Customer Account Statements) which would remove a firm’s requirement to include per share estimated values for non-traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) on its customers’ account statements. If the firm chooses to list the estimated per share values of non-traded… Read More »