Enforcement Actions
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
CASES OF NOTE
2009
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.
February 2009 - View all for this month
James Stanley Gossett
AWC/2007008653501

Gossett made unsuitable investment recommendations to public customers, in that they were inconsistent with each customer’s financial situation, investment objective, circumstances and needs. In verbal and written communications with customers, Gossett made misleading or unwarranted claims about his investment strategy, particularly regarding investment risks, and made predictions or projections of the future performance of the strategy without providing a sound basis for evaluating his assertions. Gossett prepared and distributed to prospective customers sales literature about his investment strategy that failed to include risk disclosures and provided misleading information about past performance; provided incomplete and/or misleading information to customers about the performance of their investments and/or the account balance; and prepared an account statement for a customer in which he did not report all of the customer’s account holdings and thus reported an account balance that was greater than actual. 

Gossett exercised discretion in firm customer accounts without the customers’ prior written authorization and his member firm’s prior written acceptance. Gossett enlisted the service of a non-registered individual to solicit investors to open accounts with Gossett, promote Gossett’s investment strategy, assist customers with completing application forms and serve as Gossett’s primary point of contact. As compensation for the services, Gossett agreed to pay the individual half of the commissions he generated from trades in the customers’ accounts

In addition, Gossett opened a securities brokerage account with another FINRA member without providing written notice to his member firm and without advising the other firm of his association with a member firm; failed to disclose the account to his member firm after he opened the account; and failed to provide written notice to his member firm that he was engaged in an outside business activity. In response to a request for information, Gossett knowingly provided false and misleading information. 

James Stanley Gossett: Barred
Bill Singer's Comment
Awesome!!!  Just re-print this case and send it around the office. It's a blueprint of nearly everything NOT to do. If this were a pinball game, we would have hit all the bumpers, gotten all the bonuses, and won a free ball at the end -- except, this isn't a game and, in the end, Gossett got barred. Not much of a prize.
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