Jacobo Gomez-Gutierrez

Broker/Dealer and Investment Advisor Negligent Supervision FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney, Russell L. Forkey, Esq.

March, 2012:

Jacobo Gomez-Gutierrez (CRD #5343100, Registered Representative, Santa Catarina, Mexico) 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 one year. The fine must be paid either immediately upon Gomez’ 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, Gomez consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that for more than a year, he falsified transaction instruction forms for customer accounts by changing dates, security names, share amounts and price information on forms that had previously been signed and used to process trades on customers’ behalf, without his firm’s knowledge or approval. The findings stated that the customer’s signature on a previously executed form would remain unchanged but Gomez would falsify other information on the form to process the trade without obtaining another genuine signature from the customer. The findings also stated that on one occasion, Gomez signed a client’s name to a term sheet for a transaction in a customer’s account, without the firm’s knowledge or approval; the firm’s policies and procedures prohibited employees from falsifying documents in the manner described and Gomez was aware of the firm’s prohibition. The findings also included that by falsifying the transaction instruction forms and by signing a customer’s name to a term sheet without the firm’s knowledge, Gomez caused his firm to maintain inaccurate business records in violation of FINRA Rule 2010 and NASD Rule 3110(a).

The suspension is in effect from February 6, 2012, through February 5, 2013. (FINRA Case #2010022977201).