April 2020 FINRA Disciplinary Actions
FINRA disciplinary actions taken against firms and individuals due to violations of FINRA rules, federal securities laws and MSRB rules.
Firms Fined
ACS Execution Services, LLC
The Firm was fined $75,000 for reporting Reportable Order Events (ROE) to OATS that contained inaccurate or incomplete or improperly formatted data regarding events timestamped in milliseconds. It was found that the Firm also failed to establish supervisory procedures designed to comply with FINRA rules regarding OATS. Although the Firm did review the monthly OATS report cards, the report cards do not provide feedback for millisecond reporting.
FIMCO Securities Group, Inc.
The Firm was initially fined $5,000, but, a lower fined was imposed after considering the firm’s revenues, financial resources and ability to pay. FIMCO failed to conduct supervisory testing and verification and also failed to prepare an annual report documenting results. Also, the Firm did not prepare annual certifications to attest to having certain supervisory procedures in place. It was found that over a nine-year period, the CEO had only completed one annual certification.
Individuals Barred
Ronald Walter Hannes
Hannes was barred from association with any FINRA member for failing to produce documents and information requested by FINRA during its investigation into allegations of converting customer funds. The Firm found that Hannes was paid by a client to purchase a life insurance contract that was never forwarded to the life insurance company.
Boris Skorodumov
Skorodumov was barred from association with any FINRA member for refusing to appear for on-the-record testimony and failing to cooperate with FINRA regarding disclosures that his previous members firms had made on his U5 filings. One previous firm disclosed that Skorodumov removed confidential information and intellectual property from the firm. Another member firm disclosed that Skorodumov was terminated for violating firm policies. (FINRA Case #2019062775401)
Individuals Suspended
David Francis Dalton
Dalton was fined $7,500 and suspended from association with any FINRA member for three months for exercising unauthorized discretionary trading authority in customer accounts. It was found that Dalton failed to get customers written permission for discretionary account status and also failed to receive permission from his firm. Dalton also made false attestations on his annual compliance questionnaires regarding discretionary accounts and also caused the firm to maintain inaccurate memoranda by failing to disclose he had exercised discretionary trading authority over customer accounts.
Terrence Edward Bonk
Bonk was fined $10,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member for nine months for borrowing $8,000 from a customer of his member firm without obtaining prior written approval or notifying his firm. Bonk’s supervisor then found emails between the customer and Bonk where the customer was demanding repayment. Bonk then asked the customer, via email, to send another email stating that the loan was made to Bonk’s brother. The customer complied. Bonk’s supervisor then confronted him about the emails. Bonk then made false statements in an effort to hide the loan.
Click here to read the Disciplinary Brief in its entirety.
FINRA disciplinary actions can be very costly and harm your firm’s reputation. Please contact an ARG Analyst with any questions regarding the matters discussed, or to learn the benefits of our FINRA consulting services.
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