Securities Arbitration Lawyers BlogFINRA Gives Broker Jeffrey Fanning Suspension, Fines
Jeffrey Fanning (CRD #1566859) is a former broker and investment advisor whose last employer was Liberty Partners Financial Services, LLC (CRD #130390) of West Palm Beach, FL. Previous employers include Banc One Securities Corporation (CRD #16999) of Chicago and Andrew Garrett Inc. (CRD #29931) of New York City. No current employment information is available. He has been in the industry since 1986.
FINRA has suspended Fanning for six months as a broker, and one year as a principal following the allegations and findings that he failed to supervise and adequately address possible excessive trading. He has also been fined $20,000 in the case.
Even when Liberty’s internal processes should have triggered a review, Fanning did not adequately address the trading issues. Fanning was, for a time, a 50% owner in Liberty, as well as Liberty’s CEO, CFO and FINOP. Fanning failed to establish and maintain written supervisory procedures (WSP) for the company to ensure that any excessive trading was reviewed, what the red flags were, and when to notify the customer of the potential for excess trading in their account.
FINRA recently suspended Parker for one month, and fined him $7,500 related to his activities with a client’s accounts. Parker made a number of recommendations to a client that she immediately begin investing in “alternative investments.” This client had very little prior investing experience, particularly with alternative investments. She was 64 at the time the account was opened. He recommended that she invest $290,000 into four of these illiquid 
Rosalia’s FINRA record contains 16 disclosures. The most recent was a customer dispute involving a client and the client’s children, with allegations of 
Sullivan has 8 disclosures in his career, the first of which is a customer dispute filed on 5/7/2018. The client alleges Sullivan engaged in unsuitable transactions, 
McBride has been the subject of five customer disputes in his career. The most recent was filed on 5/1/2018, by a client alleging “unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, failure to supervise, misrepresentation, omission, and breach of contract in the purchase of 2 non traded REITs and a limited partnership between February 2006 and August 2008.” The client is requesting damages in the amount of $251,317.00. Presidential denies the claims, and McBride isn’t actually a named party in the complaint. The firm is defending itself against the claims.
Utz was discharged on 6/1/2018 from Hazard & Siegel as a result of allegations that he failed to report outside business activities and private security transactions. It was also alleged that Utz accepted and received checks in his own name and converted them to personal use. No other information is available from this disclosure.
Reese is the subject of five disclosures, all customer disputes dating back to 1999. The latest, filed on 05/08/2018, involved Reese misrepresented a publicly traded, illiquid product. The customer requested damages of $75,000. Reese countered that he had indeed informed the client of its illiquid nature. After the customer stated that they did not need the money for 11-20 years, the firm found that this was a suitable investment based on the provided information. Additionally, the clients indicated that the accounts were not held in their name; at the time, they were in a brokerage account by Pershing LLC. This dispute was denied.
FINRA has barred former financial advisor and broker Scott Palmer (CRD #817586) after multiple customer disputes. His last employer was Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC (CRD #463) of Hackensack, NJ, from 03/02/2007 to 06/13/2017. He was allowed to resign after “Loss of Confidence related to complaint disclosure history.” 
Former UBS broker John Maccoll (CRD #839441) has been indefinitely barred from affiliation with any FINRA member in any capacity as of 07/02/2018.