December, 2010:

Tracy Marie Lamoreaux (CRD #4578811, Registered Rep., Phoenix, Arizona) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which she was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Lamoreaux consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that she borrowed money from her member firm’s customer without seeking the firm’s permission to borrow the funds and against the firm’s borrowing procedures, which required its registered representatives to request and obtain the firm’s approval before borrowing money from or lending money to a customer. The findings stated that the firm repaid the customer the loan amount plus interest. The findings also stated that Lamoreaux failed to respond to FINRA requests for documents and information, and to provide testimony. (FINRA Case #2009019285301).

December, 2010:

Jason Michael Mutascio (CRD #4156832, Registered Rep., Aventura, Florida) submitted an Offer of Settlement in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Mutascio consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he falsified multiple third-party wire request forms, submitted the falsified forms to his member firm, and obtained and exercised control over at least $52,500 in funds from a customer’s account without the customer’s knowledge or authorization. The findings stated that Mutascio’s submission of the falsified wire requests caused the firm’s books and records to be inaccurate. The findings also stated that Mutascio failed to appear and testify for a FINRA on-the-record interview. (FINRA Case #2009017814901).

December, 2010:

David Gustav Much (CRD #4095088, Registered Rep., Los Angeles, California) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $25,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for five months. The fine must be paid either immediately upon Much’s reassociation with a FINRA member firm following his suspension, or prior to the filing of any application or request for relief from any statutory disqualification, whichever is earlier. Without admitting or denying the findings, Much consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he recommended that his customers participate in a “Stock to Cash” program under which customers would pledge stock to obtain loans, the proceeds of which were, in many cases, used to purchase non-securities insurance products; and some of Much’s customers participated in that strategy at his recommendation, obtaining loans of more than $4.2 million. The findings stated that Much failed to conduct adequate due diligence concerning the operations or financial stability of the Stock to Cash program lender, and failed to take sufficient action to determine whether his clients’ ownership interest in the pledged securities was adequately protected. The findings also stated that Much did not understand the potential risks inherent in the strategy and therefore did not have a reasonable basis for his recommendations. The findings also included that Much engaged in private securities transactions through his marketing of the program, and he failed to notify or seek his member firm’s approval before engaging in these transactions. FINRA found that Much’s supervisor directed him to disclose his participation in the program to the firm, and despite this direction, Much failed to provide notification until the day that his supervisor’s annual branch examination began, and Much continued to recommend transactions in the program while the firm was reviewing his participation. FINRA also found that the firm’s sales practice unit told Much that he was not allowed to recommend Stock to Cash transactions.

The suspension is in effect from November 15, 2010, through April 14, 2011. (FINRA Case #2007008935001).

December, 2010:

Mark Wayne Mills (CRD #1277647, Registered Principal, Carmel, Indiana) 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, Mills consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he borrowed $317,000 from elderly customers, promised to pay interest and repay the principal in full by certain dates, but failed to repay the loans. The findings stated that Mills’ member firms were unaware of and did not approve the loans. The findings also stated that one firm allowed lending arrangements between registered persons and customers under certain permissible arrangements and with its compliance department’s prior written approval; the other firm prohibited its registered representatives from borrowing money from customers. (FINRA Case #2008015357301).

December, 2010:

Bernard Robert Markowitz (CRD #2414854, Registered Principal, Palm Harbor, Florida) 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, Markowitz consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he effected transactions in a customer’s account without the customer’s prior knowledge, authorization or consent. The findings stated that the customer verbally complained to Markowitz about the amount of commissions charged in her account, and Markowitz subsequently attempted to settle the verbal complaint by providing the customer with a $1,500 check to compensate her for the commissions that had been charged in her account. The findings also stated that Markowitz did not notify his firm of the customer’s verbal complaint or that he had given her a $1,500 check in an attempt to settle the customer’s verbal complaint. (FINRA Case #2009021131201).

December, 2010:

Li Kopp aka Sabrina Kopp, Li Guo, and Sabrina Guo (CRD #5096198, Registered Principal, Beijing, China) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which she was fined $7,500 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for six months. The fine must be paid either immediately upon Kopp’s reassociation with a FINRA member firm following her suspension, or prior to the filing of any application or request for relief from any statutory disqualification, whichever is earlier. Without admitting or denying the findings, Kopp consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that she engaged in an undisclosed outside business activity without providing prompt written notice to her member firm. The findings stated that Kopp, working with others, took steps to establish a business whose apparent purpose was to provide investment banking-related services to Chinese companies seeking access to United States capital markets.

The suspension is in effect from October 18, 2010, through April 17, 2011. (FINRA Case #2008015308001).

December, 2010:

Shawn Patrick Koerner (CRD #2183243, Registered Rep., Wautoma, Wisconsin) 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, Koerner consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he borrowed $94,000 from a firm customer when his member firm’s compliance manual generally prohibited representatives from borrowing money from a customer other than a financial institution or a family member; the customer was neither. The findings stated that Koerner failed to respond to FINRA requests for information. (FINRA Case #2009019876801).

December, 2010:

Ronald Laverne Kersey (CRD #2392393, Registered Rep., Lawrenceville, Georgia) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $24,500, which includes disgorgement of commissions, and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for three months. The fine must be paid either immediately upon Kersey’s reassociation with a FINRA member firm following his suspension, or prior to the filing of any application or request for relief from any statutory disqualification, whichever is earlier. Without admitting or denying the findings, Kersey consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he engaged in private securities transactions when he sold securities in the form of ULPs in various resort properties to investors. The findings stated that Kersey participated in a sale of a total of $194,385.96 worth of ULPs to investors and received approximately $19,438.60 in commissions from the sales. The findings also stated that prior to participating in these sales, Kersey failed to provide his member firm with written notice of the sales of ULP products, and failed to obtain the firm’s written approval.

The suspension is in effect from November 1, 2010, through January 31, 2011. (FINRA Case #2009016709012)

December, 2010:

Norman Lee Kearney Jr. (CRD #1665504, Registered Rep., Portland, Oregon) 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, Kearney consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he engaged in an outside business activity and did not provide prompt written notice to his firm regarding his association with a limited liability company. The findings stated that, in regard to FINRA’s request for information, Kearney falsely stated to his supervisor and a firm compliance officer that he was not aware of the limited liability company and had no involvement or relationship with it. The findings also stated that Kearney intentionally provided false information in a response to FINRA when he stated that he was not aware of the company until his supervisor brought it to his attention. (FINRA Case #2009017287701).

December, 2010:

Yisrael Binyamin Goldstein (CRD #2983230, Registered Principal, Spring Valley, New York) 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, Goldstein consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to respond to FINRA requests for information and documents. (FINRA Case #2007008158202).

December, 2010:

Tyler McKittrick Eddy (CRD #4148945, Registered Rep., New York, New York) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $200,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for one month. Without admitting or denying the findings, Eddy consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he engaged in improper communications with other inter-dealer brokers about credit default swaps (CDS) dealers’ brokerage fee rate reduction proposals concerning CDS instruments and, therefore, failed to abide by his duty to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade. The findings stated that these communications generally arose after individual CDS dealers sought to renegotiate the CDS brokerage fees they paid by transmitting schedules of their proposed brokerage rate reductions to multiple interdealer brokers. The findings also stated that while many of the communications involved one-to-one discussions between Eddy and personnel from other CDS interdealer brokerage firms, some of the communications referred to similar types of interactions about the schedules involving additional inter-dealer brokerage firms.

The suspension was in effect from November 15, 2010, through December 14, 2010. (FINRA Case #2006005158310).

December, 2010:

Dante Thomas Garcia DeMiro (CRD #2674582, Registered Principal, Milford, Michigan) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for nine months. The fine must be paid either immediately upon DeMiro’s reassociation with a FINRA member firm following his suspension, or prior to the filing of any application or request for relief from any statutory disqualification, whichever is earlier. Without admitting or denying the findings, DeMiro consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he engaged in private securities transactions outside the scope of his employment with his firm when he sold $587,000 of promissory notes in a Regulation D offering of an entity to customers. The findings stated that DeMiro did not provide his firm with prior written notice of the sales and did not receive the firm’s written approval or acknowledgement for these sales. The suspension is in effect from November 1, 2010, through July 31, 2011. (FINRA Case #2008012498701)

December, 2010:

Robert Anthony Cataldo (CRD #1056971, Registered Rep., Lexington, Massachusetts) 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, Cataldo consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he engaged in several outside business activities without providing prompt written notice to his member firm and failed to disclose these outside activities on his firm’s compliance questionnaires. The findings stated that Cataldo failed to completely respond to FINRA requests for information. (FINRA Case #2009017809101).

December, 2010:

Global Strategic Investments, LLC (CRD #117028, Miami, Florida) and Cesar Gabriel Hernandez (CRD #3249722, Registered Principal, Miami, Florida) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $150,000. Hernandez was fined $25,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any principal capacity for three months. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm and Hernandez consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that the firm, acting through Hernandez, failed to adequately implement or enforce its anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program, and to otherwise comply with their AML obligations, by failing to identify and analyze numerous transactions to determine if they were, in fact, suspicious and were required to be reported on a Suspicious Activity Report (Form SAR-SF). The findings stated that the firm and Hernandez permitted foreign customers to deposit funds into their accounts and, within days and/or weeks, disburse funds from their accounts to first and third parties, and in certain instances in amounts slightly below $10,000; although one customer told Hernandez he did this to avoid questions from his bank, the firm and Hernandez permitted the activity to continue and did not file a Form SAR-SF until approximately one year after the activity occurred. The findings also stated that the firm, acting through Hernandez, failed to establish and implement customer identification procedures (CIP) for verifying a customer’s identity.

The suspension is in effect from November 15, 2010, through February 14, 2011. (FINRA Case #2009016158801).

December, 2010:

Fox Financial Management Corporation (CRD® #134277, Carrollton, Texas) and James Edward Rooney Jr. (CRD #1857754, Registered Principal, Carrollton, Texas) submitted an Offer of Settlement in which the firm was censured and fined $40,000, and Rooney was fined $20,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any principal capacity for 15 business days. Without admitting or denying the allegations, the firm and Rooney consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that the firm, acting through Rooney, sold zero-coupon bonds to customers and negligently omitted material facts concerning the fund’s manager, who the State of Texas had charged with forgery of a financial instrument, and was sentenced to five years deferred adjudication and had been the subject of a Temporary Order of Prohibition for selling unregistered securities by the State of Illinois.

The findings stated that the firm, acting through Rooney, sold zero-coupon bonds to customers that were secured by interests in life insurance policies, and limited liability companies, which Rooney controlled and were affiliated with the firm, issued the bonds, and negligently omitted material facts to customers relevant to the criminal records of the bonds’ manager and owning companies. The findings also stated that the firm, acting through Rooney, participated in private placement offerings of zero-coupon bonds limited liability companies issued, and each of the offerings claimed an exemption from registration under the Securities Act of 1933; however, the offerings were not separate and distinct, and were, therefore, subject to integration, and to the securities registration requirements of public offerings. The findings also included that the firm, acting through Rooney, sold zero-coupon bonds, failed to establish a proper escrow account by using a limited liability company not chartered as a bank as the escrow agent, and falsely represented that customer funds would not be commingled.

FINRA found that Rooney failed to detect that customer funds had been commingled because he had neglected to obtain copies of the escrow account statements and to maintain such statements among the firm’s records. FINRA also found that the firm’s test of its system of supervisory controls was flawed because it failed to include a review of its private placement business, and Rooney stated in his annual certification of compliance that the firm had established and maintained policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure compliance with FINRA rules. In addition, FINRA determined that the firm failed to evidence its supervision over Rooney, in that Rooney was the only principal who had signed Subscription Agreements indicating approval of the customer’s investment in an offering.

The suspension is in effect from December 6, 2010, through December 24, 2010. (FINRA Case #2008011592201).

December, 2010:

Periodically, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) publically announces, on its website, enforcement actions that have either recently been settled by or commenced against broker/dealers and/or associated persons.

We review these settlements and filed actions each month and provide a brief description of those matters which we believe will be of interest to investors.

Please keep in mind that the complaints issued by FINRA represents FINRA’s initiation of a formal proceeding in which findings as to the allegations in the complaint have not been made, and does not represent a decision as to any of the allegations contained in the complaint. Because these complaints have not yet been adjudicated, you may wish to contact the respondents before drawing any conclusions regarding the allegations in the complaint.

December, 2010:

Fox Financial Management Corporation (CRD® #134277, Carrollton, Texas) and James Edward Rooney Jr. (CRD #1857754, Registered Principal, Carrollton, Texas) submitted an Offer of Settlement in which the firm was censured and fined $40,000, and Rooney was fined $20,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any principal capacity for 15 business days. Read More.

December, 2010:

Global Strategic Investments, LLC (CRD #117028, Miami, Florida) and Cesar Gabriel Hernandez (CRD #3249722, Registered Principal, Miami, Florida) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $150,000. Read More.

December, 2010:

Robert Anthony Cataldo (CRD #1056971, Registered Rep., Lexington, Massachusetts) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Read More.

December, 2010:

Dante Thomas Garcia DeMiro (CRD #2674582, Registered Principal, Milford, Michigan) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for nine months. Read More.

December, 2010:

Tyler McKittrick Eddy (CRD #4148945, Registered Rep., New York, New York) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $200,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for one month. Read More.

December, 2010:

Yisrael Binyamin Goldstein (CRD #2983230, Registered Principal, Spring Valley, New York) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Read More.

December, 2010:

Norman Lee Kearney Jr. (CRD #1665504, Registered Rep., Portland, Oregon) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Read More.

December, 2010:

Ronald Laverne Kersey (CRD #2392393, Registered Rep., Lawrenceville, Georgia) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $24,500, which includes disgorgement of commissions, and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for three months. Read More.

December, 2010:

Shawn Patrick Koerner (CRD #2183243, Registered Rep., Wautoma, Wisconsin) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Read More.

December, 2010:

Li Kopp aka Sabrina Kopp, Li Guo, and Sabrina Guo (CRD #5096198, Registered Principal, Beijing, China) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which she was fined $7,500 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for six months. Read More.

December, 2010:

Bernard Robert Markowitz (CRD #2414854, Registered Principal, Palm Harbor, Florida) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Read More.

December, 2010:

Mark Wayne Mills (CRD #1277647, Registered Principal, Carmel, Indiana) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Read More.

December, 2010:

David Gustav Much (CRD #4095088, Registered Rep., Los Angeles, California) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $25,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for five months. Read More.

December, 2010:

Jason Michael Mutascio (CRD #4156832, Registered Rep., Aventura, Florida) submitted an Offer of Settlement in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Read More.

January, 2010:

Jessie Everett Airington (CRD #2097, Registered Principal, Dallas, Texas) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for 10 business days. Without admitting or denying the findings, Airington consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he executed transactions in a public customer’s account using time and price discretion that the customer had previously verbally granted him, without reconfirming with the customer his desire to execute the transactions. The findings stated that Airington executed the transactions without the customer’s prior written authorization and without his member firm’s acceptance of the account as discretionary. The suspension was in effect from December 7, 2009, through December 18, 2009. (FNRA Case #2008015428301).

January, 2010

TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC (CRD #20472, New York, New York) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $100,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to report quarterly statistical and summary information to FINRA regarding a substantial number of customer complaints. The findings stated that the firm failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system reasonably designed to identify, capture, analyze and report customer complaints that are required to be reported pursuant to NASD Rule 3070(c). The findings also stated that the firm failed to put adequate systems and procedures in place to ensure that all customer complaints were identified and forwarded to the appropriate firm personnel, failed to adequately train all personnel who might potentially receive customer complaints regarding proper handling of complaints, and failed to ensure that sufficient guidance was given to personnel who were responsible for reviewing complaints to determine which complaints were reportable. (FINRA Case #2007011343301).

November, 2011:

Newbridge Securities Corporation (CRD #104065, Fort Lauderdale, Florida) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $20,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to provide material information to customers by negligently permitting its registered representatives to sell securities in private placement offerings to customers using private placement memoranda that omitted material facts. (FINRA Case #2010021106101).

January, 2010:

J.J.B. Hilliard,W.L. Lyons, LLC (CRD #453, Louisville, Kentucky) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured, fined $200,000 and required to place $133,817 into a segregated, interest-bearing account for a period of five years to reimburse customers who can reasonably demonstrate that they made deposits to their firmaccounts at a bank branch and that the firm failed to properly credit the deposits to their accounts. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to have an adequate supervisory system, including written supervisory procedures and a supervisory control system, to properly and timely identify customer checks deposited at affiliated bank branches and ensure that all customer check deposits were duly credited to the appropriate customer accounts. The findings stated that the firm escheated approximately $133,616.65 in funds to the Commonwealth of Kentucky when it was unable to identify the proper customer accounts. The findings also stated that, as a result of the unidentified customer check deposits, the firm failed to make and keep accurate daily records of all receipts and disbursements of cash and other debits and credits in its books and records, including entries to an Escheatment Account. The findings also included that the firmunderstated its net capital charges and incorrectly calculated its Customer Reserve Formula. In addition, the findings included that the firm produced inaccurate month-end customer account statements, incorrectly liquidated certain customer fully paid securities, and failed to segregate some customers’ fully paid securities, resulting in intra-day possession or control deficits.

FINRA found that the firm did not prepare required inter-company account reconciliations, failed to properly record certain aged unfavorable reconciliation differences and failed to conduct supervisory reviews of certain reconciliations and accounts. FINRA also found that the firm’s supervisory procedures did not adequately ensure that its research analysts obtained the required approval for public appearances and provided proper disclosures during such public appearances. In addition, FINRA determined that the firm issued certain research reports that contained indefinite “may” language regarding future investment banking services that the firmexpected to provide, did not include analyst certifications on the front page, contained front pages that did not specify the page or pages in the research report on which the analyst certifications were to be found, and incorrectly included the analyst certification information as part of the important disclosures. (FINRA Case #2007009463801).