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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.
November 2011
Tracey McInchak
AWC/2010022690601/November 2011
Associated Person McInchak wrote numerous checks, totaling $461,013.14, from her member firm’s corporate checking account made payable to herself and to her personal credit card companies. McInchak cashed the checks and used them for her own benefit without the firm’s knowledge or permission.
Tracey McInchak: Barred
Tags:  Checks    Credit Cards    Expenses     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Bill Singer's Comment
How nice!  You just get some checks that are laying around, write them out to yourself, and, voila!!, nearly half a million dollars later you're a very happy camper.  I'd love to know what system of checks and balances were in place here.
October 2011
Kellyann Fortney
OS/2009020645901/October 2011
Associated Person Fortney misappropriated approximately $75,864.12 from the company by withdrawing funds using checks or other debits from the company business checking account (a money market account). The checks or other debits were made payable to Fortney or to third parties. Fortney engaged in unauthorized transactions using the company’s credit card account, and then paid for those transactions using the company’s checking account.
Kellyann Fortney : Barred
Tags:  Credit Cards     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Roseann Bunshaft
AWC/2010024803101/October 2011

At the request of a member firm customer, Bunshaft was directed to make direct payments from one of the customer’s brokerage accounts at the firm to pay some of the customer’s personal bills; instead, without the customer’s knowledge or authorization, Bunshaft initiated $23,471.25 in unauthorized transfers of funds from the customer’s brokerage account to pay her own personal credit card charges.

Bunshaft failed to respond to FINRA requests for information.

Roseann Bunshaft: Barred
Tags:  Credit Cards     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
September 2011
Andrew George Spotts
2009018661801/September 2011

Spotts wrongfully misappropriated approximately $197,860 from a coworker at his member firm by taking blank personal checks belonging to the coworker and forged the coworker’s name on the checks without the coworker’s knowledge or authorization. Spotts made some of the checks payable to himself and deposited the checks into his personal account, or made the checks payable to credit card companies and other creditors to pay his personal bills.

Spotts failed to appear and testify at an onthe- record interview.

Andrew George Spotts: Barred
Tags:  Forgery    Checks    Credit Cards     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Bill Singer's Comment
He probably went into the office refrigerator and stole his coworkers' lunches on occasion too. Watta jerk.
John Thomas Pappas
AWC/2010021962101/September 2011

Pappas converted funds totaling $157,563.75 from customer accounts, without the customers’ knowledge or authorization, and attempted to convert an additional $14,260 from another customer account.

Pappas misappropriated the funds by activating the online bill payment feature in the clients’ accounts and then directed payments to his personal credit cards. Pappas placed an unauthorized trade totaling $6,893.43 in a deceased firm customer’s account.

Pappas refused to respond to FINRA requests for information and testimony.

John Thomas Pappas: Barred
Tags:  Deceased    Credit Cards     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Bill Singer's Comment
You see -- and you thought Wall Street fraud required a lot of devious planning.  Not at all.  You just activate an online bill payment program and trade on behalf of a dead customer.  So simple. So easy,. So scary.
July 2011
Dareth Amber Martin
OS/2009019349301/July 2011

Martin misappropriated at least $81,670 from her employer and its owner through the use of credit cards and checks for unauthorized purposes.

Without authorization, Martin used her employer’s personal credit cards and business credit account to purchase personal items, totaling at least $34,516, and used her employer’s business checking account, without authorization, to issue checks for personal items exceeding $1,603. The Martin issued checks from the business account to herself and made cash withdrawals for herself without authorization; these withdrawals exceeded the actual business expenses by at least $23,385. Martin issued, or caused to be issued, checks to herself for unauthorized bonus payments totaling at least $22,166.

Martin failed to appear for FINRA on-the-record testimony.

Dareth Amber Martin: Barred
Tags:  Credit Cards    Checks     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Bill Singer's Comment
Hey, it beats working for a living. I love the part about issuing bonus checks to herself.  How come I can't get a job like this?
Maritza Del Carmen Cruz
AWC/2009019865801/July 2011

Cruz participated in an outside business activity without providing her member firm with prior written notice.

An individual offered Cruz $3,000 in exchange for referring firm clients and others with available credit on their personal credit cards who would invest in his newly created business. The individual failed to pay those who invested in his business as promised. Cruz misrepresented to her firm her involvement in the outside business activity on a compliance her firm review conducted. Upon admitting her involvement in the outside business activity to her firm, the firm immediately suspended Cruz, conducted an internal investigation and later terminated Cruz.

Maritza Del Carmen Cruz : Fined $5,000; Suspended 3 months
Tags:  Credit Cards     |    In: Outside Business Activities
Bill Singer's Comment
Hmmmm -- frankly, that's a very modest sanction from FINRA.  Hopefully, Cruz appreciates how lucky she was to have avoided even more severe fines and suspension. 
Matthew John Iskric
AWC/2009017857501/July 2011

Iskric misused his member firm’s funds by using the firm’s corporate credit card for personal purposes, including purchases of gift cards from various retailers. The amount of unauthorized charges was in excess of $10,000.

While registered with a different member firm, Iskric failed to timely update his Form U4 with material information.

Matthew John Iskric: Barred
Tags:  Credit Cards     |    In: U4, U5, RE-3, Rule 3070
Tina Marie Newman (Principal)
2008011719501/July 2011

Newman converted $10,166.34 by using her member firm’s corporate credit cards to pay for a personal vacation and misappropriating her firm’s credit card rewards points for her personal use.

Newman did not have the firm’s permission or consent or the authority to charge her personal vacation to her firm issued credit cards or appropriate reward points for her own use.Newman did not inform anyone at her firm or memorialize or otherwise create a record of these charges. She reimbursed the firm for the charges but not for the credit card rewards points. Newman intentionally created fictitious and false entries in the firm’s books to cover up her conversion of firm funds for her personal benefit.

Tina Marie Newman (Principal): Barred
Tags:  Credit Cards     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Wendy Rice Stern
AWC/2009018870401/July 2011

Stern charged personal expenses on her corporate credit card totaling approximately $5,200. Stern made approximately $2,700 in payments to the bank affiliate of her member firm for the personal expense which she charged on her corporate credit card.

The bank notified Stern on several occasions about a number of aged items that were charged on the card for which no employee expense reports were submitted by Stern. Subsequently, the bank notified Stern that her card was two payments past due and it was being suspended.

Stern then admitted that she had made the personal purchases on her corporate credit card. Stern also made a $500 payment to the bank and thus reduced the outstanding amount owed due to her personal use of the corporate card to $1,984.

Stern’s employment at her firm and the bank were terminated for improper use of the corporate credit card.

Wendy Rice Stern: Barred
Tags:  Banks    Credit Cards     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Bill Singer's Comment
Frankly, this is a far too common scenario in the financial services community -- a form of "kiting" one's credit card purchases through mixed use of the card for business and personal expenses and than delaying reimbursement. Some companies permit the mixed use of the corporate card provided that the employee promptly notifies the employer of the personal purchases and undertakes prompt reimbursement.  The abuses of this "honor system" are legendary.
April 2011
Christopher Malchin
AWC/2010021389601/April 2011
Malchin utilized his business credit card for personal expenses and submitted false expense reports to his member firm, pursuant to which he was reimbursed approximately $1,806 for expenses that were not business-related.
Christopher Malchin : Fined $5,000; Suspended 6 months
Tags:  Credit Cards    Expenses     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Bill Singer's Comment
For a while there, this type of violation was popping up with some regularity but I haven't seen that same flood of credit card/expense cases during the past couple of years.  Guess, the trickle is beginning again.
February 2011
Buka Uzoma Nwigwe aka Chukwuebuka Nwigwe
#2009019332001/February 2011
Nwigwe misappropriated customer’s funds when he worked as a personal banker for his member firm’s affiliate bank. Nwigwe requested that a credit card for a customer be delivered to his attention at the branch, used the credit card to incur approximately $1,746 in unauthorized charges for his personal use and forged the customer’s signature on multiple occasions to complete purchases with the card. Nwigwe admitted to the firm’s internal investigators that he used the unauthorized credit card for his personal use.
Buka Uzoma Nwigwe aka Chukwuebuka Nwigwe: Barred; The Hearing Officer did not order restitution because the customer was not required to pay for the unauthorized charges on the credit card.
Tags:  Bank    Credit Cards     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
January 2011
Chad R. Duncan (Principal)
AWC/2009017755101/January 2011

Without permission or authority, Duncan used $100,000 drawn from an elderly person’s bank account to pay his personal credit card expenses, which were related to costs associated with the construction of his home. When the executor of the deceased person’s estate became concerned about the withdrawals totaling $100,000, Duncan created fictitious cashier’s checks totaling $100,000 and payable to charities, falsely representing that the checks represented evidence of the payments made by the deceased and the beneficiaries of the payments. The withdrawals were earlier used to purchase cashier’s checks payable to an international commercial bank to pay down Duncan’s credit card expenses. 

A bank compensated the customer for the wrongfully taken funds, and Duncan has reimbursed the bank approximately $91,484.75 and continues to make monthly payments to cover the amounts the bank paid to the customer.

Chad R. Duncan (Principal): Barred
Tags:  Elderly    Credit Cards    Checks     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Lyndall Conway Medearis Jr. (Principal)
AWC/2008014825001/January 2011

Medearis became an additional credit card holder on a customer’s credit card accounts which were revolving lines of credit. Medearis made charges to the cards totaling approximately $134,000, effectively borrowing this amount through the credit card transactions, and subsequently made payments to cover the charges.

Medearis’ member firm’s written procedures prohibited registered representatives from borrowing money from or loaning money to customers unless the customer was a member of the registered representative’s immediate family and the registered representative had requested and received prior written permission from the firm. Medearis borrowed an additional $132,000 from the customer in separate transactions, and Medearis never informed his firm.

Medearis loaned $6,420.33 to a customer who was a member of his immediate family but failed to obtain the firm’s prior written permission before entering into the loan arrangement with the customer.

Lyndall Conway Medearis Jr. (Principal): Fined $10,000; Suspended 90 days
Tags:  Borrowing    Credit Cards    Loaning     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Bill Singer's Comment
FINRA essentially has Medearis coming (borrowing) and going (loaning) money to customers.
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