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Oct 22, 2014

Jose Fernando Lozano Fined and Suspended for Unauthorized Letter of Authorization

Jose Lozano, a broker formerly employed with Miami, Florida-based ITAU International Securities, Inc. (ITAU International), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he affixed customer signatures to wire transfer instructions to facilitate the transfer of funds for the purchase of property. According to FINRA, Jose Lozano, of Miami, Florida, had two of the three customers who jointly held ITAU International accounts sign a Letter of Authorization (LOA) that included wire instructions which authorized the transfer of $150,000 from a third-party broker-dealer to the seller of the property. The third-party broker-dealer declined the transfer, however, due to the transfer being sent to a third-party recipient.

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Oct 20, 2014

Richard Happle Fined and Suspended for Failure to Execute a Trade Order

Richard Happle, a former registered representative with Tampa, Florida-based Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (Raymond James) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he failed to execute a customer trade order, thereby allegedly causing his customer to suffer approximately $28,000 in losses. According to FINRA, Richard Happle, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was instructed by his customer to sell all shares of a certain stock held in his account at the market open the following day. The next day, Richard Happle allegedly decided not to sell the customer’s stock shares due to the fact that the stock price was falling rapidly and he wanted to talk over the decision to sell with his customer. The customer, however, lived in Alaska and Richard Happle delayed contacting him by a few hours due to the time zone difference.

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Oct 17, 2014

Arhonda T’Lene Guinn Permanently Barred by FINRA for Converting Customer Funds

Arhonda T’Lene Guinn, a former registered representative with Vero Beach, Florida-based Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. (Stifel Nicolaus) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which she consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the entry of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that she converted funds from a customer’s account for personal use. According to FINRA, Arhonda Guinn transferred $12,100 from a customer’s account to a bank account belonging to her landlord. The Stifel Nicolaus customer had no knowledge of and did not consent to the transfer of funds. In order to complete the transfer, Arhonda Guinn allegedly falsified her customer’s previously signed Letter of Authorization. FINRA found that Arhonda Guinn used the customer’s funds to pay six months of rent. Consequently, Arhonda Guinn, of Vero Beach, Florida, was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity.

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Oct 14, 2014

Karen Lee Chafe Fined and Suspended by FINRA for Altering Variable Annuity Documents

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined and suspended Karen Lee Chafe, a former Berthel, Fisher & Co. Financial Services, Inc. (Berthel Fisher) registered representative in its Melbourne Beach, Florida offices, for admitting to altering customers’ variable annuity withdrawal forms and IRA distribution/withdrawal request forms. According to FINRA, Karen Chafe, a/k/a Karen Lee Linscott, modified and resubmitted withdrawal request forms at least 61 times on behalf of 14 customers. According to FINRA’s Default Judgment, Karen Chafe reused old customer forms, whited out or obscured existing information, added new information, and then submitted the altered forms as originals to Berthel Fisher over a period of six years. Although Karen Chafe was authorized to make the withdrawals and distributions, she did not have the customers’ authorization to submit altered forms. Karen Chafe has been assessed a deferred fine of $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any FINRA member in any capacity for a year. The suspension is in effect from June 16, 2014 through June 15, 2015.

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Oct 9, 2014

Richard Morello, Junior Alexis, and Florida Company Vertical Integration Group Charged With Illegal Precious Metals Transactions

Lake Worth, Florida-based company Vertical Integration Group, LLC, along with its Managing Members Richard V. Morello, also of Lake Worth, and Boynton Beach, Florida-based Junior Alexis have been ordered by a Federal Court to pay monetary sanctions for their part in illegal, off-exchange precious metals transactions. According to the Order of Default Judgment by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Vertical Integration Group, by and through Richard Morello and Junior Alexis, solicited investors to engage in off-exchange leveraged, margined, or financed precious metals transactions, executed through Hunter Wise Commodities LLC. The precious metals included gold, silver, platinum and palladium. The Order states that approximately 39 customers of Vertical Integration Group invested over $1 million and ended up losing $893,859 of their monies to trading losses, commissions, fees and other charges. The Order further states that Vertical Integration Group received commissions and fees totaling $554,566 for these precious metals transactions.

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Oct 6, 2014

The SEC Charges Positron Corp, Patrick Rooney, and John Rooney with Market Manipulation Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has brought charges against Westmont, Illinois-based Positron Corporation (Positron), then-CEO of Positron, Patrick G. Rooney of Westmont, Illinois, and John R. Rooney, of Jupiter Florida. The SEC has charged them with orchestrating a market manipulation scheme involving the company’s stock. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Positron, Patrick Rooney, and John Rooney made an inducement payment to a stock promoter who would purchase shares of Positron ahead of planned press releases in order to manipulate the stock by giving the appearance of market activity, thereby increasing the trading price and volume.

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Sep 30, 2014

The SEC Charges Two Former Wells Fargo Employees With Insider Trading Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has brought charges against two former Wells Fargo employees, Gregory T. Bolan Jr. (Bolan) of Nashville, Tennessee and Joseph C. Ruggieri (Ruggieri) of Raleigh, North Carolina, for an alleged insider trading scheme involving buying or short selling stocks ahead of research analyst reports which contained ratings changes. According to the SEC order, Bolan was a research analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, LLC (Wells Fargo) and provided Ruggieri, a former trader at Wells Fargo, with advance notice of forthcoming rating changes. This advanced information allegedly led to Ruggieri trading ahead of the ratings changes; short selling stock ahead of a downgrade and buying stock ahead of upgrades. Ruggieri allegedly generated over $117,000 in gross profits for Wells Fargo and was terminated from Wells Fargo after compliance questioned him about communications involving Bolan. Bolan resigned from Wells Fargo after being questioned by compliance personnel. The SEC’s order, instituting a litigation proceeding, charged Bolan and Ruggieri with violating Sections 17(a) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5. The administrative proceeding will determine what, if any, relief is in the public interest, including disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, monetary penalties and other remedial measures. Illegal insider trading is the act of buying or selling a security, in breach of a fiduciary duty or other relationship of trust and confidence, while in possession of material, nonpublic information about a company. Insider trading violations may also include “tipping” such information; trading by the person tipped – the “tippee,” and trading by those who misappropriate such information. Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 makes it unlawful for any person to “use or employ, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security registered on a national securities exchange or any security not so registered, any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance in contravention of such rules and regulations as the [SEC] may prescribe.” To implement Section 10(b), the SEC adopted Rule 10b-5, which makes it unlawful to engage in fraud or misrepresentation in connection with the purchase or sale of a security.

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Sep 29, 2014

Record Setting SEC Whistleblower Award Encourages Others to Come Forward

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has awarded over $30 million to a whistleblower, the largest ever award for a whistleblower’s information which led to a successful SEC enforcement action. The SEC program, in place since 2011, is meant to motivate tipsters from all over the world to come forward with credible information about violations of U.S. securities laws. The whistleblower in this case, from a foreign country, brought forward information about an ongoing fraud. According to the SEC, the award of over $30 million could have been even larger had the tipster come forward sooner. The award was reduced due to the whistleblower’s delay in reporting the misconduct. This award is more than double the previous high for an SEC award of $14 million, which was awarded to a whistleblower in October 2013. Under the SEC’s whistleblower program, tipsters are encouraged to come forward with credible, quality, original information about violations of U.S. securities laws that lead to a successful enforcement action of more than $1 million. The whistleblower awards can range from 10-30% of the money collected in a case. Most importantly, the whistleblower’s identity and confidentiality are strictly protected, so that tipsters can safely come forward.

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Sep 25, 2014

Wells Fargo Advisors Fined $5 Million for Failure to Prevent Employee’s Insider Trading

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Wells Fargo Advisors with failing to maintain adequate controls in order to prevent one of its employees from using confidential customer information to engage in insider trading. Additionally, the SEC charged Wells Fargo Advisors with producing an altered document in a compliance review of the broker’s trading activities. This case, in which Wells Fargo has agreed to the monetary penalty of $5 million, is the first time the SEC has charged a brokerage firm for its failure to protect a customer’s confidential information, an important ruling at a time when many peoples’ personal information is reportedly being compromised due to computer hacking. According to the SEC’s order, a Wells Fargo broker received confidential information from a customer that Burger King was being acquired by private equity firm 3G Capital Partners. The broker, Waldyr Da Silva Prado Neto (Prado), then used that confidential information to enact trades ahead of the public announcement. The SEC has also charged Prado with insider trading, freezing his assets to prevent any transfers of the ill-gotten profits, alleged to be $175,000. The SEC’s order goes on to state that multiple groups responsible for compliance or supervision at Wells Fargo were told of the broker’s misuse of customer information, but failed to act. According to Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, “When investors entrust private information to their stockbrokers or investment advisors, they have the right to expect that it will not be exploited.” Wells Fargo admitted to the SEC’s findings and agreed to pay the $5 million penalty. Section 15(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 204A of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 require broker-dealers and investments advisers to establish, maintain, and enforce policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information. Brokerage firms like Wells Fargo Advisors have a legal duty to protect their customers’ confidential information and to supervise their brokers to ensure compliance and prevent violations of the rules and regulations of the securities industry.

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