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.
Sammons Securities Company, LLC and Carl Monroe Mook (Principal)
AWC/2009017821401
Before Mook
terminated his registration with a former member firm, and became
registered with
Sammons, he accessed the former firm’s system and downloaded
customers’ names,
addresses, account numbers, account registrations and security
products held in the
accounts to a compact disk (CD). When Mook began employment
with the firm, he turned the CD over to it; the firm then accessed
the non-public personal
customer information contained on the CD, and using that
information, generated and
mailed the former firm’s customers transition packets that
contained, among other things,
a change of broker-dealer form for each securities account.
The firm entered personal customer information on the change of
broker-dealer forms that it
obtained from Mook’s CD, including customer account numbers at the
former firm and the
securities products they held at the firm. Mook and the firm
used the non-public personal customer information without
determining whether they
were acting in compliance with Regulation S-P. For instance, Mook
and the firm failed to determine whether Mook’s former firm had given any of the
customers whose information
they used the opportunity to opt out of the disclosure of their
personal information when
Mook left the firm.
Sammons Securities Company, LLC: Censured; Fined $10,000
Carl Monroe Mook: Fined $5,000; Suspended 10 business days