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Enforcement Actions
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
CASES OF NOTE
2011
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.
December 2011
Brett Michael Plew
AWC/2009018269501/December 2011
By the time Plew discovered a trading error in a public customer’s account, the mutual fund shares had declined in value by approximately $50,000. Plew and the customer agreed to reallocate the securities holdings in the account and hope that the market would rebound to make up the loss. 

Plew sent the customer letters on his member firm’s letterhead promising to recoup her loss and later guaranteeing that the money would be replaced if his efforts to restore the value of the account were unsuccessful within a year. Plew did not consult with his supervisor or the firm’s compliance department prior to sending the letter with the guarantee. The customer decided she wanted a trade correction and faxed Plew’s letter to the firm’s compliance department, asking that the guarantee be honored. Plew’s firm reimbursed the customer for the error.
Brett Michael Plew: Fined $5,000; Suspended 20 business days
August 2011
James Spottswood Gibson
AWC/2009019827801/August 2011
Gibson met with customers of his member firm to discuss their joint securities account, which had sustained losses. At the meeting, Gibson gave them a check for $10,000 drawn against a personal bank account Gibson owned. In issuing the check, which the customers negotiated, Gibson shared in losses the customers had sustained in their joint account at Gibson’s firm.
James Spottswood Gibson: Fined $5,000; Suspended 10 business days
February 2011
Michael Douglas Hanke
AWC/2009016739701/February 2011
Hanke sent unapproved personal emails to customers guaranteeing them against future loss in their securities portfolio, although he later sent the customers an email withdrawing the guarantee.
Michael Douglas Hanke : Fined $2,500; Suspended 10 business days
Tags:  Email    Guaranteeing Against Losses     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Enforcement Actions
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It's All Over Now: My 42-year Wall Street Journey by Bill Singer, Esq.
January 30, 2024
Before my second career as a lawyer, I was the third generation of my family in the wine and liquor industry. In 1981, I started law school; and in 1982, I was hired as a law student in Smith Barney, Harris & Upham's Legal Department. After I graduated law school, I was a regulatory lawyer with the American Stock Exchange and then with the NASD (now... Read On
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