South Florida Arbitration & Litigation Lawyer Blog
Unauthorized Trading and Fraud FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney, Russell L. Forkey, Esq.
March, 2012:
Angel Luis Suarez (CRD #3116550, Registered Principal, Briarwood, New York) was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. The sanction was based on findings that Suarez executed trades in the account of a customer at his member firm without the customer’s knowledge, authorization or consent. The findings stated that Suarez intentionally executed unauthorized trades in the customer’s account, and attempted to conceal his misconduct. When Suarez’ firm confronted him with the allegations of unauthorized trading, he first tried to conceal the unauthorized trading by claiming that the customer had authorized the trades. When the firm threatened to check Suarez’ telephone records, he stated that he had been desperate, and engaged in the unauthorized trading to generate commissions. The findings also stated that the firm cancelled the unauthorized trades and restored the customer’s holdings so that the customer did not suffer any losses, and Suarez did not receive commissions for his unauthorized trades. The unauthorized trades would have generated $5,000 in commissions, if paid to Suarez, and would have resulted in a net loss of $1,930.97 to the customer. The findings also included that Suarez failed to respond to FINRA requests for information and documents. (FINRA Case #2009019953501).