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.

Frank Marasco
AWC/2005002134102

Marasco overstated his trading volume in separate securities and caused reports of purchase and sale transactions to be published or circulated when each such purchase or sale transactions were not bona fide purchases or sales of such security. Marasco was responsible for entering orders, executing trades, and determining the quotations at which his firm would buy and sell securities in the health care and biotech sector. Marasco entered buy and sell orders into his firm’s trading platform, and then entered orders on the opposite side of the market for approximately the same number of shares, which executed against one another, resulting in separate transactions being executed against one another, creating non-bona fide market activity in the securities. Each of these separate transactions was publicly reported to NASDAQ through the Automated Confirmation Transaction Service and disseminated to the public.

Marasco’s firm advertised trading volume in order to, among other things, attract customer order flow using private service providers, and Marasco’s advertised trading volume from entering orders that executed against one another accounted for more than 90 percent of his firm’s advertised trading volume in some securities and more than 50 percent of the firm’s advertised trading volume in separate securities.

Frank Marasco: Fined $40,000; Suspended 45 days

Tags: Orders  Trading Volume