Let’s take a step back from Covid-19 news, for a moment, which, rightfully, has dominated the news and everyone’s collective conscience, and focus on something that has been pervasive in the broker-dealer world for much, much...more
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that one of my pet peeves with FINRA is its unrelenting zeal to bar people, permanently, from the securities industry. Seemingly without much regard for the actual conduct at...more
A couple of years ago, I complained... about FINRA’s Office of Disciplinary Affairs, or ODA. I am here to report that…nothing has changed.
Let me explain. I am defending a FINRA Enforcement case that is scheduled to go to...more
The day after Christmas, FINRA issued a press release announcing that five big firms – Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, LPL, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch – had each entered into a settlement, collectively agreeing to pay a...more
From time to time, I have lamented that FINRA does not hold itself to the same lofty standards to which it holds its members. I realize I am painting with a broad brush, as there are lots of folks at FINRA who do a great job,...more
1/3/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Firms ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investment Funds ,
Restitution ,
Vacated
I have written a few times about FINRA’s ceaseless interest in bringing cases against registered reps who fail to update their Form U-4 in a timely manner to disclose the fact that a tax lien has been filed against them. Or...more
Once again – twice again, actually – FINRA has used Rule 8210 as a cudgel, beating the poor unfortunate recipients of the “request” for documents and information into submission, or worse. This has got to stop.
The first...more
9/3/2019
/ Books & Records ,
Computer Hard Drives ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Disputes ,
Document Productions ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Objections ,
Request For Information ,
Search & Seizure
FINRA loves to tout its supposed intent to bring meaningful cases, cases that matter to the investing public, rather than enforcing “foot faults,” as it has been accused of doing over the years. My own experience with FINRA...more
While I feel I have enjoyed as much success defending respondents in FINRA Enforcement matters as anyone, I am still careful to caution clients who are unwilling to consider any settlement that going toe-to-toe with FINRA at...more
Reading Reg Notice 19-17 makes me think of the legal arguments that I’ve recently read regarding whether a president can be found guilty of obstructing justice if the actions in question were taken out in the open, for...more
I apologize for all the posts this week, but I am traveling and am in a different time zone, so I am awake at hours when, ordinarily, I would be asleep, giving me time to muse. Anyway, given that, I will not test your...more
Way back in 2006, NASD issued Notice to Members 06-55, which tweaked the Sanction Guidelines to allow not just the size of the firm to be taken into consideration when determining the appropriate sanctions to be meted out,...more
I am hardly saying that SEC Regulation S-P is the sexiest of regulations. I mean, has any customer is history actually read one of those exciting statement stuffers that discloses in some dense font a BD’s privacy policy?...more
4/24/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Customer Information ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Encryption ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Investment Adviser ,
Notice Requirements ,
OCIE ,
Opt-Outs ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Popular ,
Privacy Policy ,
Regulation S-P ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Alert ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
I have been busy the last month getting ready for a big arbitration, and attending the first week of what looks like is going to be a four- or five-week slog when all is said and done. So, I am just catching up on some recent...more
4/17/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Internal Investigations ,
Market Manipulation ,
Penny Stocks ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Professional Misconduct ,
Registered Representatives ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations
If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that over my last few posts, I have been talking about an increasingly visible effort by FINRA to turn its regulatory eye from rogue brokers – who have been an irritant...more
I have been waiting for a while to write about this issue, since it arose in an Enforcement case I handled for a client, and I wanted the matter to run its full course at FINRA before I started throwing stones. Sadly, there...more
2/19/2019
/ Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Computer Hard Drives ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Disputes ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
FINRA Hearing Panel ,
Motion to Compel ,
Search Warrant ,
Subpoenas
About a year ago, the SEC offered investment advisors the unique opportunity to report themselves to the SEC if they sold mutual funds to their clients that offered a lower priced share class than the class actually selected...more
1/31/2019
/ 529 Plans ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Deadlines ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Mutual Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Self-Reporting ,
Settlement Negotiations ,
Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative (SCSD) ,
Share Classes
In what has become an annual, but hardly exciting – I mean, it’s not like anxiously awaiting the day that pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training – tradition, with the turning of the calendar to the new year, FINRA...more