South Florida Arbitration & Litigation Lawyer Blog
Recently, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced a settled enforcement action against Alan Scot Feigenbaum (CRD #3132230, Boca Raton, Florida). In this action, an AWC was issued in which Feigenbaum was assessed a deferred fine of $15,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in all capacities for five months. Without admitting or denying the findings, Feigenbaum consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he exercised discretion without written authority in customer accounts. The findings stated that Feigenbaum entered orders on a discretionary basis for trades in customer accounts, including those of senior customers. Although the customers permitted Feigenbaum to exercise discretion and had not complained, none of them had given him written authorization to do so and neither of his member firms had approved the accounts as discretionary. Feigenbaum exercised discretion without written authorization despite having previously received a written letter of caution from one of his supervisors for similar misconduct. In addition, Feigenbaum inaccurately stated that he had not exercised discretion in any customer account on compliance questionnaires. The findings also stated that Feigenbaum caused one of his firms to create and maintain inaccurate books and records through his use of an unauthorized email account and by mismarking orders as unsolicited. Feigenbaum had an approved outside business through which he provided accounting and tax services to clients. Feigenbaum communicated with certain of his brokerage customers, including seniors, regarding securities-related matters over the email account he used for his tax preparation business. The content of the communications included investment recommendations. Because the firm was unaware of and had not authorized use of the email account, it was unable to supervise, preserve, or retain the securities-related emails. Furthermore, Feigenbaum inaccurately stated on compliance questionnaires that he had conducted all business-related communication over his firm email account. Feigenbaum also marked trades in a particular exchange-traded product in customer accounts as unsolicited, when in fact he had solicited the transactions. The suspension is in effect from December 6, 2021, through May 5, 2022. (FINRA Case #2019062006601)
At the Boca Raton Law Office of Russell L. Forkey, we represent clients throughout South and Central Florida, including Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Sunrise, Plantation, Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Delray, Boynton Beach, Hollywood, Lake Worth, Royal Palm Beach, Manalapan, Jupiter, Gulf Stream, Wellington, Fort Pierce, Stuart, Palm City, Jupiter, Miami, Orlando, Maitland, Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, Lake Mary, Heathrow, Melbourne, Palm Bay, Cocoa Beach, Vero Beach, Daytona Beach, Deland, New Smyrna Beach, Ormand Beach, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Dade County, Orange County, Seminole County, Martin County, Brevard County, Indian River County, Volusia County and Monroe County, Florida. The law office of Russell L. Forkey also represents South American, Canadian and other foreign residents that do business with U.S. financial institutions, investment advisors, brokerage and precious metal firms.