Articles Posted in Disciplinary Actions

In September, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that registered representative Jonah Engler of New York, NY and formerly associated with Global Arena Capital 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 allegations, Jonah Engler consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he recklessly misrepresented material facts to his customers regarding senior secured zero-coupon notes issued by a Metals, Milling and Mining, LLC in a private placement offering, in willful violation of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.

Jonah Engler, along with other individuals, fraudulently sold a total of nearly $3 million worth of the notes to 59 customers. The findings stated that Engler recklessly misrepresented that the notes were collateralized when in fact, there was not any collateral for them. Engler failed to confirm that the collateral existed and that the supposed collateral had any value and recklessly misrepresented to prospective purchasers that their investments would be adequately secured by collateral.

The findings also stated that Engler recklessly failed to conduct a reasonable investigation of the viability and legitimacy of Metals, Milling and Mining LLC in the face of numerous red flags that the company was a fraud. Engler failed to obtain basic information about the company that was necessary to the due diligence process in order to understand an investment in it. Without such information, Engler lacked a reasonable basis to recommend the notes to investors. The investors lost all of the money that they invested in the notes, with the exception of three investors who were repaid with funds from new investors.

In September, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Malcolm Babin of Gonzales, Louisiana, and formerly associated with PFS Investments in Baton Rouge 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, Babin consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to provide FINRA with requested documents and information during the course of an investigation into allegations that he converted non-firm customer funds and engaged in undisclosed outside business activities.

Malcolm Babin’s registration and disciplinary history

In order to lawfully sell investments to the public, one must either be registered or exempt from registration.

In September, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Jeffrey Auerbach of New York, NY, and formerly associated with Vfinance Investments submitted a letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $15,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member inany capacity for 90 days.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Jeffrey Auerbach consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he participated in private securities transactions totaling $218,000 without first seeking and receiving his member firm’s written approval. The findings stated that Auerbach attested on compliance questionnaires that he did not participate in any private securities transactions outside of the firm. The suspension is in effect from July 20, 2015, through October 17, 2015.

 Jeffrey Auerbach’s registration and disciplinary history

In October, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Cory Don Williams of Monckton, MD, and formerly associated with Signator Investors submitted a letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member. Without admitting or denying the findings, Williams consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he participated in at least 125 private securities transactions with another registered representative without providing written notice of the transactions to his member firm or receiving the firm’s approval. These securities transactions were in an investment called Colonial Tidewater Realty Income Partners.

FINRA found that approximately $13.5 million of the transactions were by Signator customers. Williams’ participation in the transactions included responding to customer requests related to investments in the company, authorizing wire transfers of funds from customer accounts at the firm to the company, and manually adding customers’ outside company holdings to consolidated statements that were sent to the customers.

Colonial Tidewater Realty Income Partners paid Williams approximately 3 percent of the assets he and another registered representative James Glover sold to customers, half of which Williams remitted to Glover, with proceeds to Williams totaling approximately $94,000.

In October, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Jack Scherbert of Sparks, NV and formerly associated with Wells Fargo Advisors submitted a letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member firm in any capacity.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Scherbert consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to appear for FINRA on-the-record testimony regarding its investigation into whether he had improperly made guarantees regarding return of interest and principal to his member firm’s customers in connection with Uniform Investment Trust investments.

Jack Scherbert has been the subject of two dozen customer complaints.

In October, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Mark Quimby of Palm Harbor, FL, submitted a letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was assessed a deferred fine of $10,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for three months.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Mark Quimby consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he participated in private securities transactions by soliciting two customers to invest $20,000 and $39,725 in a security formed to invest in alternative investments, without providing prior written notice to his member firm or receiving its written approval to solicit or in any way participate in the investment.

The findings stated that the investment fund was managed by Quimby’s wife but not offered by the firm. Quimby falsely stated on firm compliance questionnaires in 2012 and 2013 that he had not engaged in soliciting, referring or recommending any private securities products.

In October, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Francesco Puccio of Webster, 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, Francesco Puccio consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to provide FINRA with documents and information in connection with its investigation into allegations that he converted funds from a non-firm customer.

Francesco Puccio’s registration and disciplinary history

In order to lawfully sell investments to the public, one must either be registered or exempt from registration.

In October, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Glenn Moffitt of Henderson NV, and formerly with LPL Financial, First Allied Securities and Cambridge Investment Research, all of Las Vegas, NV, 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, Glenn Moffitt consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to appear for a FINRA on-the-record interview during its investigation into allegations that he converted at least $370,000 from an elderly customer

Glenn Moffitt’s registration and disciplinary history

In order to lawfully sell investments to the public, one must either be registered or exempt from registration.

In a FINRA disciplinary proceeding against former Newport Coast Securities broker Marc Arena, FINRA made the following findings as to Arena in deciding to accept his offer of settlement.

That from September 2008 through May 2013 Newport Coast Securities failed to prevent five of its registered representatives (Douglas Leone, David Levy, Antonio Costanzo, Andre LaBarbera and Donald Bartelt) from excessively trading (churning) customer accounts.

FINRA found that this conduct should have drawn scrutiny from the firm’s managers because the cost to equity ratios were extremely high and turnover rates were over 100 in some accounts. In addition, client accounts were overly concentrated and heavily margined, leveraged ETFs and ETNS were allowed to remain in client accounts for extended periods, and management failed to intervene when trade confirmations were marked as unsolicited, when in fact the trades had been solicited by Newport Coast’s brokers.

In October, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that Daniel Levin of Dallas, Texas submitted a letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was assessed a deferred fine of $25,000, suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for six months and required to requalify as a general securities representative by passing the Series 7 examination prior to associating with any FINRA member firm in that capacity following the six-month suspension.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Daniel Levin consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he hosted a weekly radio show during which he made statements that were unbalanced, promissory, misleading and/or lacked reasonable basis. The findings stated that Daniel Levin utilized the show to market his retirement planning business. During the shows, Levin repeatedly touted the benefits of investing in equity-indexed annuities (EIAs), although he did not mention this product by name. Instead, Levin only generically described the positive features and characteristics of the EIAs that he was selling to his customers. Levin also made unwarranted performance projections without disclosing that they were dependent on the performance of an index.

The suspension is in effect from August 17, 2015, through February 16, 2016.