AWC/2008011678303
Acting through its chief compliance officer (CCO), the firm:
- failed to establish and implement an adequate AML program and related procedures; adequately identify, investigate and respond to red flags of suspicious activities;
- timely file a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR); and
- provide AML training for firm personnel for one year.
Acting through a registered representative, the firm
- improperly facilitated the distribution of approximately 20 million shares of various unregistered securities;
- operated an unregistered branch office, in violation of the restriction on business expansion contained in its membership agreement, and
- engaged in improper telephone solicitations (from the unregistered office) by making materially false representations and omitting material facts in connection with the offer of securities and by using misleading telemarketing scripts that a registered principal had not approved.
Acting through the registered representative and CCO, the firm failed to perform adequate searching inquiries and take necessary steps to ensure that transactions did not involve distributions of unregistered and/or restricted securities.
Acting through a registered representative and firm principal, the firm sold securities to public investors using a private placement memorandum that omitted to disclose a convicted felon’s association with the issuer, a material fact to any reasonable investor.
Acting through various FINOPs, the firm
- failed to maintain accurate financial books and records,
- filed inaccurate FOCUS reports and
- operated a securities business while under minimum net capital requirements.
Acting through the CCO and other compliance officers, the firm
- failed to forward customer funds it received in connection with contingency offerings to an escrow agent by noon of the next business days after receipt of such fund;
- adequately review and approve customer correspondence;
- timely and accurately report customer complaints;
- timely update Uniform Applications for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer (Forms U4) and Uniform Termination Notices for Securities Industry Registration (Forms U5);
- comply with the Firm Element of the Continuing Education Requirement for a year;
- conduct an annual compliance meeting; and
- establish an adequate business continuity plan, which consequently led to the loss of access to certain customer records upon termination of its relationship with a particular clearing firm.
The firm had additional supervisory deficiencies, including that
- its written supervisory procedures failed to establish adequate procedures for review of producing managers’ customer account activities,
- it failed to have written supervisory procedures for identifying producing managers that should be subject to heightened supervision, and
- failed to place certain producing managers on heightened supervision, in that, acting through various individuals, the firm failed to clearly assign each registered person to an appropriately registered representative and/or principal responsible for supervising that person’s activities, and designate principals with actual authority to carry out the supervisory responsibilities over the firm’s business.
Acting through a supervising principal, the firm failed to reasonably supervise registered representatives working out of the unregistered branch office.
Acting through firm officers, the firm failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system reasonably designed to supervise the sales activities of firm personnel conducted outside of its registered offices, and failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system for determining whether customer securities were properly registered or exempt from registration.
Acting through its CCO, the firm failed to implement adequate procedures to ensure that the firm did not telephone persons who stated they did not wish to receive calls and/or who registered on the national do-not-call registry, and failed to adequately update and maintain a do-not-call list.
Acting through various supervisors, the firm failed to perform heightened supervision over numerous individuals.
- 529 College Savings Plan
- Abandoned Accounts
- Algorithmic Trading
- Altered Customer Phone Records
- AML
- Annual Compliance Certification
- Annual Compliance Meeting
- Annuity
- Asset Purchase Agreement
- ATM
- Away Accounts
- Background
- Bank
- Banks
- Beneficiary
- Best Efforts Offering
- Blackjack
- Borrowed
- Borrowing
- Breakpoint
- Casino
- CE
- CFTC
- Changes Of Address
- Check
- Check Kiting
- Checks
- CIP
- CMO
- Commodity Futures
- Commodity Pool
- Communications
- Computers
- Confidential Customer Information
- Contingency Offering
- Continuing Education
- Conversion
- Conviction
- Cooperation Agreement
- Correspondence
- Credit Cards
- Currency
- Day Trading
- Deceased
- Delivery Instructions
- Discretion
- Do Not Call
- EIA
- Elderly
- Electronic Communications
- Electronic Storage
- Embezzled
- Escheat
- Escrow
- Estate
- Expenses
- False Proof Of Insurance
- False Statements
- Fax
- Federal Appeal
- Felony
- Finder Fees
- Finder\\\'s Fees
- Fingerprints
- FINOP
- Firm Committment Offering
- FOCUS
- FOREX
- Forgery
- Freely-Tradable
- Futures
- Gifts
- Guaranteeing Against Losses
- Hedge Fund
- Impersonation
- Inspections
- Instant Messaging
- Insurance
- Internet
- Investment Advisor
- Letter Of Credit
- Life Insurance
- Living Trust
- LOA
- Loan
- Log On IDs
- Margin
- Mark-Up Mark-Down
- Material Change Of Business
- Membership Agreement
- Minimum Contingency
- Modification Of Sanctions
- Money Laundering
- MSRB
- Mutual Fund
- Mutual Funds
- NAC
- Net Capital
- Notary
- Notice Of Levy
- NSF
- Operations Manager
- Options
- Orders
- OSJ
- Outside Accounts
- Passwords
- Payphones
- POA
- Policy Lapse
- Ponzi
- Power Of Attorney
- Pre-arranged Trading.
- Private Placement
- Private Securities Transaction
- Producing Manager
- Production Quota
- Promissory Notes
- Proprietary Traders
- Public Appearances
- Qualified Domestic Relations Order
- Radio
- Regulation S-P
- REIT
- Research
- Restitution
- SAR
- Scripts
- Signature
- Solicited
- Statutory Disqualification
- Suitability
- Supervision
- Supervisory System
- Surrender Charge
- Surrender Charges
- Suspense Account
- Taping Rule
- Telemarketing
- Television
- Term Life
- Testing
- Third Party Vendor
- Time & Price Discretion
- Trading Limits
- Trading Volume
- Trust Account
- Turnover
- Two Party Consent
- U.S. Treasuries
- UIT
- Unclaimed Funds
- Universal Lease Programs
- Unregistered Office
- Unregistered Person
- Unregistered Principal
- Unregistered RRs
- Unregistered Securities
- Unregistered Supervisor
- Variable Annuity
- Variable Insurance
- Website
- Willfully
- WSP
- Zero Coupon