FINRA Suspends Former Robert W. Baird & Co. Broker for Unsuitable Investment Strategy

Jodie Ann LaMarre, of Sarasota, Florida, submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly recommending an unsuitable investment strategy to an elderly customer on a fixed income with conservative investment goals, causing the customer to suffer unnecessary tax liability of over $33,000. While employed with the Sarasota, Florida branch of Robert W. Baird & Co., Ms. LaMarre allegedly recommended the consolidation of all her elderly customer’s assets into a single taxable account.  According to FINRA, Ms. LaMarre made this recommendation without regard for the fact that several of the customer’s assets were in tax-deferred accounts.  FINRA’s findings state that Ms. LaMarre was aware of and understood the negative tax consequences of her unsuitable recommendations, which resulted in unnecessary tax liability of more than $33,000 and a reduction of her customer’s 2016 monthly social security benefit.

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Robert W. Baird & Co. and Rolf Parker Griffith III Sanctioned for Supervisory Failures

Robert W. Baird & Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Rolf Parker Griffith III of Nashville, Tennessee submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly failing to reasonably supervise a former registered representative’s misuse of customer funds. FINRA alleges that during the period July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014, Robert W. Baird & Co. failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system and written supervisory procedures for correcting trade errors that was reasonably designed to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations and rules. FINRA claimed the brokerage firm did not provide its supervisors with any training or guidance on how to review, approve or process trade corrections in violation of NASD Conduct Rule 3010 and FINRA Rule 2010. Without admitting or denying the FINRA findings, Robert W. Baird & Co. was censured and was ordered to pay a $200,000 fine and ordered to adopt and certify to FINRA that it put in place reasonable supervisory procedures for trade corrections to prevent abuse of customers. 

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Robert W. Baird & Co. Agrees to Pay $2.1 Million in Restitution to Mutual Fund Customers

Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. (Baird) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly taking advantage of certain retirement plan and charitable organization customers that were eligible to purchase Class A shares in certain mutual funds without a front-end sales charge. Baird has been a FINRA member since 1971 and has over 140 branch offices throughout the U.S. In May 2015, Baird self-reported to FINRA that many eligible customers had not received available sales charge waivers. Baird estimated that since July 1, 2009, approximately 1,400 accounts purchased mutual fund shares for which an available sales charge waiver was not applied. Baird estimated that clients were overcharged approximately $1.8 million since July 2009 due to its supervisory failures. 

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Patrick Garrett Barred by FINRA for Misrepresenting Customer Account Value

Patrick Landon Garrett, a former Registered Representative with the Nashville, Tennessee branch of Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., 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) sanctions and findings that he intentionally and knowingly misrepresented his customer’s account value and attempted to make the customer whole by misusing other customers’ funds. According to FINRA, Patrick Garrett, of Franklin, Tennessee, misrepresented his customer’s account value by approximately $200,000 in order to conceal the decreased value of her investments. Mr. Garrett allegedly told his customer that her printed and online statements were not accurate due to settlement date issues, which was false. Additionally, FINRA found that Mr. Garrett attempted to make the customer whole by misusing other customers’ funds to buy the initial public offering (IPO) shares in the first customer’s account, resulting in investment losses of over $34,000 to the other customers. Consequently, Patrick Garrett was permanently barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity.

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