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.

Bernard Robert Markowitz (Principal)
AWC/2009021131201

Markowitz effected transactions in a customer’s account without the customer’s prior knowledge, authorization or consent. The customer verbally complained to Markowitz about the amount of commissions charged in her account, and Markowitz subsequently attempted to settle the verbal complaint by providing the customer with a $1,500 check to compensate her for the commissions that had been charged in her account. Markowitz did not notify his firm of the customer’s verbal complaint or that he had given her a $1,500 check in an attempt to settle the customer’s verbal complaint.

Bernard Robert Markowitz (Principal): Barred

Kenn Arden Hugos
AWC/2008016344401

Hugos executed transactions in a customer’s account without the customer’s knowledge or consent, and subsequently received a complaint from the customer regarding the transactions. Hugos settled the complaint by personally reimbursing the customer $353.55 for costs and commissions associated with the transactions. Hugos did not report the complaint to his member firm or seek the firm’s approval to settle the matter.

Kenn Arden Hugos : Fined $10,000; Suspended 20 business days

William Ray Collins Jr
AWC/2008013648001

Collins forged customers’ signatures on financial documents and submitted the documents to his member firm and failed to send a copy to the customers.

Collins failed to disclose a variable annuity service fee in his discussion with customers and, when the customers inquired about the fee, Collins told them that the fee was an error; and to avoid further inquiries he used his own funds to pay the fee without informing the firm or the customers. Collins accomplished his payment of the fees when he executed money orders on the customers’ behalf, forged the customers’ signatures on the money orders and submitted the money orders to the firm to pay the variable annuity fees that he had not disclosed to the customers.

William Ray Collins Jr: Barred

Tags: Signature    Forgery  Variable Annuity  Guaranteeing Against Losses    

Jarem Barry Bingham
AWC/2009017621401

Bingham gave a member firm customer $4,421 to compensate her for tax consequences incurred as a result of his recommendation that the customer liquidate a variable annuity and purchase mutual funds with the proceeds. Bingham acted without his firm’s knowledge or authorization when sharing in the customer’s loss, and his firm’s procedures prohibited representatives from paying or offering to pay restitution to a customer. Bingham loaned customers approximately $1,050 because of delays in processing their withdrawal requests, which the firm’s procedures prohibited.

Jarem Barry Bingham : Fined $10,000; Suspended 15 business days

Tags: Guaranteeing Against Losses  Loan  Variable Annuity  

Samuel Kenneth Johnson
AWC/2009017292301

Johnson entered into a settlement agreement with a customer, wherein he promised to pay the customer $4,700 to correct a trading error. Johnson entered into the settlement agreement without his member firm’s authorization.

Samuel Kenneth Johnson : Fined $5,000; Suspended 10 business days

Matthew James Ferber Sr.
AWC/2009017295301

Ferber executed a promissory note in which he agreed to reimburse a firm customer $64,000 for losses in the customer’s account. The settlement was without his firm’s knowledge or authorization and violated firm policy that prohibited registered representatives from guaranteeing (through implication or statement) any profit or absorbing any loss for a client and settling customer complaints.

Matthew James Ferber Sr. : Fined $5,000; Suspended 30 business days

Tags: Promissory Notes  

Michael Phillip Dunham (Principal)
AWC/2008016130001

Dunham exercised discretion in customers’ account, without written authorization from the customers and his member firm’s acceptance of the accounts as discretionary.

Dunham attempted to settle a customer’s anticipated complaint without notifying the firm of the customer’s concerns or the fact that he had paid her a total of $20,000 to settle, even though he did not have his firm’s permission to settle customer complaints. The customer did not cash the checks Dunham gave her and subsequently filed a complaint with the firm regarding the margin balance in her account.

Michael Phillip Dunham (Principal): Fined $10,000; suspended 20 business days

Tags: Discretion  

Mark Francis Harper
2007011333401

Harper engaged in a pattern of mutual fund switching in customers’ accounts without having reasonable grounds for believing that the transactions were suitable for the customers. Harper placed buy and sell orders of mutual funds in customers’ accounts without the customers’ prior written authorization and his member firm’s prior written acceptance of the accounts as discretionary. Harper failed to timely amend his Form U4 to disclose a settlement with a customer for $23,041.02 in connection with his mutual fund switching.

Mark Francis Harper: Barred

Tags: Borrowing  Discretion  

Bentley-Lawrence Securities, Inc. and Richard Lawrence Coskey (Principal)
OS/2007011333401

Bentley-Lawrence and an unnamed registered representative settled a claim in connection with the representative’s mutual fund switching in a customer’s account.  Acting through Coskey, the Firm failed to

• report that settlement to FINRA;
• adequately and properly supervise the registered representative who engaged in mutual fund switching activities in customers’ account, which generated in excess of $178,000 in gross commissions, representing more than 50 percent of the firm’s mutual fund commission revenue for all registered representatives; and 
• adequately supervise to ensure the timely reporting of the settlement with the customer.

Bentley-Lawrence Securities, Inc.: Fined $50,000; Ordered to pay $117,623.68 restitution to customers, jointly and severally with Coskey.

Richard Lawrence Coskey: Fined $20,000; Ordered to pay $117,623.68 restitution to customers, jointly and severally with Bentley-Lawrence Securities; Suspended in Principal capacity only for 9 months.

Tags: Mutual Fund  

Robert Paul Aamodt (Principal)
AWC/2009016700301

Aamodt reimbursed a customer for losses in a family limited partnership account that resulted from a trading error. Aamodt wrote a personal check made payable to the account to offset the losses that occurred due to the decline in price of the purchased shares. Aamodt admitted the trading error and his subsequent actions to his member firm, which reimbursed the customer all remaining losses plus interest lost as a result of the trading error; subsequently, Aamodt repaid the firm.

Robert Paul Aamodt (Principal): Fined $5,000; Suspended 5 days in all capacities

William Frederick Nord
AWC/2008012826101

Nord settled a customer’s complaint by paying the customer and agreeing to lower commission rates on the customer’s future stock purchases without his member firm’s knowledge or approval.

William Frederick Nord: Fined $2,500; Suspended 10 business days

Jeffrey Allen Davis
OS/2008015704401

Davis failed to obtain a customer’s signature on an investment account application form; instead of contacting the customer, Davis falsified the customer’s signature on the application and submitted it to his member firm as authentic, causing the firm’s books and records to be false and inaccurate. The customer filed a complaint with the firm concerning the fees charged in his managed account and the firm responded denying that any compensation was due to the customer. Davis acknowledged to the customer that he had falsified his signature on the application, and reimbursed the customer $7,772.31 for losses in his account without disclosing such payments to his firm. Davis failed to appear and testify as FINRA requested.

Jeffrey Allen Davis : Barred

Tags: Forgery  

Brian Havens
AWC/2008015121101

Registered Principal Havens falsified the dates on account opening documents and bank checks without the customers’ knowledge or consent. The customers gave Havens checks totaling $23,190.24 to purchase shares in mutual funds, and he failed to execute the customers’ orders on a timely basis. The customers complained to Havens about his failure to invest their funds and Havens settled the customers’ complaints by paying the customers but failed to report the complaints to his member firm or seek its approval to settle the matters.

Brian Havens: Fined $12,500; Suspended 18 months in all capacities