FINRA Lawyer Blog

At a recent event hosted by the American Bar Association's Securities Litigation Committee, three Chief Counsel from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's Enforcement division discussed the agency's current priorities.
Chief Counsel Sue Light, Gina Petrocelli, and Lara Thyagarajan...

In its quest for investor protection and market integrity, FINRA diligently seeks out firm representatives who are in violation of its strict rules. Recently, the regulatory authority decided to bar California-based Jim Jinkook Seol from the industry.
A former employee of Ameriprise Financial...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission appears to be increasing its scrutiny of broker-dealers who fail to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) reporting requirements.
Traditionally this type of violations remained off the SEC’s radar, being...

With the increase in FINRA enforcement activity in the last year, we hear daily from concerned RAs and other financial industry professionals – this post is intended to decode the basics of the process and offer some cautions to avoid pitfalls awaiting the unwary.
1. How can you become...

FINRA’s Department of Enforcement recently made public a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) by which former LPL broker Mark Tyler Bonds agreed to a one month suspension and a $5,000 fine to resolve allegations that he borrowed money from a customer of his firm, in violation of...

Barclays Capital has reached a $97 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve allegations that its Wealth and Investment Management Americas (WIMA) unit overcharged clients by $50 million between 2010 and 2015.
The SEC’s investigation determined that...

Kevin Richard Graetz, a former broker from New York, recently settled a FINRA complaint relating to his alleged failure to report $1 Million in tax liens over the course of seven years.
FINRA requires registered personnel to disclose tax liens and any other unsatisfied judgments in their Form...

Michael James Malone, a FINRA arbitrator in Detroit, recently denied an expungement request from broker Kathie Lee Foreman. Foreman was seeking expungement of a customer complaint in connection with “unsuitable” investments allegedly leading to the, also alleged, loss of...

Last April, FINRA announced that it had revised the sanction guidelines that apply when there has been a violation of a FINRA rule. Professionals in the industry whose activities are regulated by FINRA need to be aware of the scope and impact of these changes.
The Sanction Guidelines do not...

The SEC is not used to losing a case in-house, but that is precisely what happened on April 18th, when Judge James Grimes dismissed the insider trading allegations against Charles L. Hill of Atlanta. Hill had made a sizable profit by buying shares of Radiant Systems Inc. right before an acquisition...