Merrill Lynch Broker Fined and Suspended for Fraudulent Wire Transfers

John Joseph Arnold, a broker formerly employed by Newport Beach, California-based Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., submitted an Offer of Settlement in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the described sanctions and the entry of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he falsely represented that he had verbally confirmed wire requests which turned out to be fraudulent requests from a customer’s hacked email account. John Arnold, of San Clemente, California, falsely represented to a sales assistant and his member firm that two wire requests were verbally confirmed with the customer, when in fact, he had not spoken with the customer.  Further, and in contravention of his firm’s rules, Mr. Arnold split the wire into two separate transfers over two consecutive days to avoid obtaining a Letter of Authorization from the customer, which was required for wire requests exceeding $50,000. 

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