NOTE: Stipulations of Fact and Consent to Penalty (SFC); Offers of Settlement (OS); and Letters of Acceptance Waiver, and Consent (AWC) are entered into by Respondents without admitting or denying the allegations, but consent is given to the described sanctions & to the entry of findings. Additionally, for AWCs, if FINRA has reason to believe a violation has occurred and the member or associated person does not dispute the violation, FINRA may prepare and request that the member or associated person execute a letter accepting a finding of violation, consenting to the imposition of sanctions, and agreeing to waive such member's or associated person's right to a hearing before a hearing panel, and any right of appeal to the National Adjudicatory Council, the SEC, and the courts, or to otherwise challenge the validity of the letter, if the letter is accepted. The letter shall describe the act or practice engaged in or omitted, the rule, regulation, or statutory provision violated, and the sanction or sanctions to be imposed.

Josephson engaged in unauthorized transactions in a relative’s variable annuity account by submitting surrender or withdrawal requests through his member firm to the issuer of the variable annuity, which caused the liquidation of $48,716.81 from the account without the relative’s knowledge or consent, and in the absence of written or oral authorization to exercise discretion in connection with the variable annuity. 

In furtherance of the above scheme, Josephson

• received checks payable to his relative in the total amount of $45,230.15 as a result of the unauthorized partial liquidations;
• negotiated the checks and spent the funds; and
• without his relative’s knowledge and consent, affixed, or caused to be affixed, her signature to surrender or withdrawal request forms and as endorsements to checks payable to her. 

Josephson failed to appear for a FINRA on-the-record interview. 

Jon Hadland Josephson: Barred