SWS Financial Broker Suspended for Unsuitable Short-Term Trading Recommendations

David Lockey, a stockbroker formerly employed with SWS Financial Services, Inc. n/k/a Hilltop Securities Independent Network, Inc., submitted an Offer of Settlement to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he was assessed a deferred fine of $10,000, suspended for six months, and ordered to pay disgorgement of portion of his commissions of $46,447.38 and restitution to customers.  Without admitting or denying FINRA’s allegations, David Randall Lockey, of Carrollton Texas, consented to the entry of findings that he recommended and engaged in a pattern of unsuitable trading of open-end mutual funds (OMFs), unit investment trusts (UITs), and/or closed-end funds (CEFs) in the accounts of four customers. According to FINRA, David Lockey engaged in unsuitable short-term trading and switching in OMFs and/or UITs in the accounts of four customers.  In two of those four customers’ accounts, Mr. Lockey is alleged to have made unsuitable trades and switches in CEFs.  FINRA stated that David Lockey executed 37 trades in OMFs and/or UITs in the customers’ accounts in which they were held for less than one year. Those products are generally intended to be held long-term in order to off-set their fees.  He also allegedly executed 23 unsuitable transactions in CEFs in two of the four customers’ accounts. 

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