Enforcement Actions
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
CASES OF NOTE
2010
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 2010
Jennifer Veronica Himes
AWC/2008015411501/December 2010

Registered Sales Assistant Himes violated her member firm’s policies and procedures when she facilitated day-to-day interactions between a registered representative’s customers and a non-FINRA regulated investment group outside of her firm that operated as a commodity pool. Himes failed to disclose these activities to her member firm even though firm policies and procedures required her to do so. Himes failed to use the firm’s email system on numerous occasions when communicating regarding the firm’s business and customers as her firm required to meet its requirements under Section 17(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 17a-4.

At another registered representative’s direction, Himes communicated with the commodity pool using non-firm email addresses and relayed messages from the representative that specifically advised customers not to use firm email addresses for communications regarding the commodity pool.

Himes engaged in this conduct to prevent the firm from detecting that she and the representative were involved with the commodity pool, causing the firm to fail to retain certain email communications relating to its business.

Jennifer Veronica Himes : Fined $5,000; Suspended 2 months
Tags:  Commodity Futures    Commodity Pool    Email     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
Bill Singer's Comment
A very tempting situation, the referring of BD clients to commodity pool operators. Frankly, I've probably gotten more queries from clients this year about how to best arrange for those referrals than in any year that I've been practicing law. Bottom line: it's a tricky and difficult undertaking.  Exercise great care and caution before sending a client over the wall.
September 2010
John Allan Jones (Principal)
OS/2005001398602/September 2010

Acting with others, Jones participated in a fraudulent scheme to solicit investments in an unregistered hedge fund and its general partner. Jones engaged in a variety of fraudulent and deceptive sales practices and disregarded his duties and obligations of fair dealing to his customers. Jones knew, or was reckless in not knowing, that the hedge fund was engaging in a highly speculative trading strategy involving futures contracts and that information the hedge fund manager supplied, which Jones used, contained materially false and misleading statements and omissions, including a pending Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fraud action against the hedge fund manager, the fund’s theoretical and unproven performance figures, the highly speculative nature of the hedge fund’s trading strategy, and the significant risks associated with an investment in the hedge fund and its general partner.

Jones ignored many “red flags,” including those in the hedge fund’s Private Placement Memorandum (PPM). Jones solicited his customers without conducting a reasonable investigation to determine whether the hedge fund and its general partner were suitable investments and without regard as to whether his customers were capable of evaluating and bearing the risks associated with such investments.

John Allan Jones (Principal): Fined $25,000; Suspended 4 months
Tags:  Hedge Fund        Unregistered Securities    CFTC    Futures    Private Placement     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
June 2010
Walter Allen Ellis (Principal)
2007007873101/June 2010

Ellis engaged in outside business activities without providing prompt written notice to his member firm. Ellis managed customers’ accounts and effected trades in commodity futures contracts and commodity futures options through commodity trading firms and earned commissions from the firms. Ellis completed quarterly compliance questionnaires for his firm that inquired if he had engaged in an outside business activity while associated with the firm, and he answered “no” to this question, thereby knowingly providing false information to his firm, which caused its firm’s books and records to be inaccurate.

Ellis willfully failed to timely amend his Form U4 with material information.

Walter Allen Ellis (Principal): Fined $22,500; Suspended 1 year
Tags:  Commodity Futures     |    In: Cases of Note : FINRA
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