Cetera Broker Suspended for Unsuitable Recommendation & Risky Trading Strategy

Richard Foster, a former registered representative with Cetera Investment Services LLC (Cetera) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) in which he was suspended and assessed a deferred fine of $10,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for making an unsuitable recommendation that his customer liquidate his IRA to be utilized in a high-risk options trading strategy. According to FINRA, Richard Charles Foster, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, recommended his customer place the entirety of his IRA assets into a high-risk, unsuitable options trading strategy.  Mr. Foster allegedly received authorization from his member firm to operate an income fund by falsely representing that the fund would not involve any customers.  However, Mr. Foster recommended his customer liquidate his IRA, worth $169,000 to invest in the income fund account.  The income fund account lost significant value due to trading losses and the commission costs connected with the high-volume ETF option trading strategy.  FINRA stated that once Mr. Foster’s customer learned he had incurred an $81,000 tax penalty because of the early IRA liquidation, he asked Mr. Foster to return what was left of his funds to pay the penalty. Mr. Foster returned $52,000 to the customer – a significant loss of the initial investment of $169,000.

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Six Independent Broker Dealers Fined by FINRA for Failing to Give REIT Discounts to Investors

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined six independent broker dealers for failing to give their clients the proper discounts available to them, known as breakpoint discounts, on large sales of certain nontraded REITs. The six firms are Voya Financial Advisors Inc. (Voya), Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. (Transamerica), Investacorp Inc. (Investacorp), J.P. Turner & Co. (J.P. Turner), National Planning Corp. (National Planning), and Cetera Investment Services (Cetera). The fines were levied in July and August and total more than $500,000. Voya and Transamerica were fined the largest amounts: $325,000 for Voya and $85,000 for Transamerica. The other fines levied against Investacorp, J.P. Turner, National Planning, and Cetera were: $50,000, $45,000, $30,000, and $30,000, respectively. All six firms were also ordered to pay restitution.

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Former New York Cetera Investment Broker Barred for Alleged Fraud

David Santos of Niskayuna, New York submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) after allegedly falsifying letters that enabled an imposter to fraudulently transfer funds from a client and execute unauthorized sales of stocks. Santos entered the securities industry in 1991 when he became associated with a FINRA member firm. In March 1998, Santos became a General Securities Representative (GSR). Between 1998 and 2006, Santos was a GSR with three different FINRA member firms. On September 2, 2006, Santos became registered as a GSR with Cetera Investment Services, LLC (Cetera). Santos later became a General Securities Principal with Cetera in April 2010 and remained there until he was terminated in May 2014.

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