On April 27, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC), whereby Larry M. Phillips of The Phillips Group, in Woodland Hills, California, was sanctioned for his misconduct related to Phillips’ unlawful overcharging of several of his customers. In December 2009, Phillips…
On July 15, 2014, FINRA suspended Frank N. Dettenrieder, a former financial adviser with First Allied, for twelve days and fined him $5,000 for effectuating discretionary transactions in the accounts of six customers without obtaining prior written authorization from the customers and without having the accounts accepted as discretionary accounts…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently sanctioned Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC (Wells Fargo) and imposed a $150,000 fine over allegations that the firm failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system that was reasonably designed to adequately review and monitor the transmittal of funds from the accounts of…
Stephen Douglas Pizzuti (Puttuti) and David Walton Matthews, Jr. (Matthews) were recently suspended for three months by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) over allegations that Pizzuti failed to adequately inquire into Richard’s Pizzuti (Richard) and Daniel Voccia’s (Voccia) outside business activities and involvement in private securities transactions despite his…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined brokerage firm Financial West Investment Group, Inc. d/b/a Financial West Group (Financial West Group) over allegations between March 2009 and May 2010, the firm did not provide accurate variable annuity disclosures to customers concerning certain fees and charges. FINRA also alleged that Financial…
Diego Fernando Hernandez (Hernandez) was recently barred from the financial industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) concerning allegations that he failed to disclose outside business activities, a practice known in the industry as “selling away” and misused customer funds. Hernandez entered the securities industry in May 1998. In…