Former Cetera Advisor Networks Broker Permanently Barred by FINRA for Failing to Respond to Investigation into Unsuitable Trading

Former Cetera Advisor Networks broker Mark Koehler has been barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for refusing to produce information and documents requested by FINRA in connection with an investigation into unsuitable trading in a senior customer’s accounts, including short-term mutual fund switching and excessive trading. FINRA began an investigation in April 2014, upon receipt of a tip that Mark Charles Koehler, of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, had engaged in unsuitable trading in the accounts of a senior customer.  In the course of its investigation, FINRA reviewed trading in other of Mr. Koehler’s customer accounts and sought to investigate the following:  whether Mr. Koehler engaged in unsuitable short-term mutual fund switching and excessive trading; whether he placed undue influence on a customer before her death; and whether Mr. Koehler failed to disclose his status as beneficiary in the same customer’s will.

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