South Florida Arbitration & Litigation Lawyer Blog
FINRA Securities Fraud and Mismanagement Attorney, Russell L. Forkey, Esq.
May, 2011
Joshua Daniel Gould (CRD #4617397, Registered Representative, St. Louis, Missouri, formerly licensed with Woodbury Financial Services, Inc.) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Gould consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he converted more than $1,315,000 from customers who had purchased annuities from him by, among other deceptive means and devices, convincing his customers to sign blank annuity withdrawal request forms, which he subsequently completed with instructions to the insurance companies to transfer his customers’ funds to a bank account held in the name of a company he owned and controlled. The findings stated that in some instances, the withdrawal request forms contained a medallion signature guarantee that he improperly obtained. The findings also stated that Gould converted funds from other annuity customers by using withdrawal request forms that contained customers’ signatures to direct insurance companies to transfer funds from the customers’ annuities to his bank account. The findings also included that Gould unlawfully converted customer funds from customers’ brokerage accounts by, among other deceptive means and devices, improperly transferring funds from their brokerage accounts to the bank account he owned and controlled. FINRA found that the customers either did not authorize or were not aware of the conversion resulting from the transfer of funds from their annuities and brokerage accounts to Gould’s bank account. FINRA also found that Gould used the unlawfully converted funds to pay for his own personal and business expenses; none of the customers were aware he was withdrawing funds for his personal use. In addition, FINRA determined that on numerous occasions, Gould falsified documents to make it appear that customers had authorized the transfer of funds from their annuities and brokerage accounts to his bank account, and in some instances, effectuated these transfers by convincing customers to sign withdrawal request forms, some of which were blank. (FINRA Case#2010024945501).
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