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23-money-laundry
As the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) continues to crack down on broker-dealers with anti-money laundering program (AML)-related deficiencies, broker-dealers and AML compliance officers (AMLCOs) should take note of the most common AML program compliance deficiencies mentioned in recent FINRA enforcement actions. These top six areas of deficiency are the most likely focus areas of FINRA enforcement going into 2017.

1. Ignoring Risks of Low-Priced Securities

The greatest number of FINRA AML-related enforcement actions in the past year revolved around failures to prevent and detect violations involving large volume sales of low-priced securities. FINRA sanctioned firms for failing to supervise new registered representatives bringing in penny stock business and failing to document and/or investigate high-risk activities involving lump penny stock deposits followed by rapid liquidation and proceeds distribution.

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The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. $6.25 million for inadequately supervising its customers’ use of leverage in their Merrill brokerage accounts. The firm has also agreed to pay approximately $780,000 in restitution to 22 customers whose portfolios were over concentrated and highly leveraged in high-risk Puerto Rican securities, FINRA announced Wednesday.

FINRA’s recent sanctions involve Merrill Lynch’s handling of customer “loan management accounts” (LMAs), lines of credit that allow customers to borrow money from affiliated banks using their brokerage account securities as collateral.

FINRA claims that, between January 2010 and November 2014, Merrill Lynch “lacked adequate supervisory systems and procedures regarding its customers’ use of proceeds” from these LMAs.

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VALIC Financial Advisors Inc. has agreed to pay $1.75 million to resolve Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) allegations that the firm failed to implement reasonable systems to address and review conflicts of interest created by its compensation policy, FINRA reported Monday.

The Houston-based subsidiary of American International Group Inc. allegedly paid its representatives financial incentives to encourage clients to transfer their assets into VALIC’s in-house products and denied compensation to representatives who urged customers toward non-VALIC products.

VALIC Compensation Policy Yields 610% Sales Growth

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Securities law violations are a major focus of regulatory compliance programs across the industry. Yet not all organizations realize the threat cybersecurity breaches pose to company viability. A new breed of corporate whistleblower is cropping up among marketplace professionals – the cybersecurity whistleblower.

Compliance professionals and executives should familiarize themselves with potential violations and implement a functional internal reporting program before a trusted insider detects and chooses to report misconduct.

SEC Cybersecurity Whistleblowers Pose a Unique Threat

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On October 11, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its fiscal year 2016 (FY2016) enforcement results, reporting collections totaling over $4 billion in disgorgement and penalties out of a record 868 enforcement actions against executives, companies and gatekeepers.

SEC enforcement proceedings for FY2016 focused largely on cybersecurity compliance, financial reporting deficiencies, insider trading, protecting investor accounts, market structure requirements, micro-cap fraud and municipal offering disclosure failures.

“By every measure the enforcement program continues to be a resounding success holding executives, companies and market participants accountable for their illegal actions,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White in a statement. “Over the last three years, we have changed the way we do business on the enforcement front by using new data analytics to uncover fraud, enhancing our ability to litigate tough cases, and expanding the playbook bringing novel and significant actions to better protect investors and our markets.”

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On August 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it has adopted new rules proposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) that lessen the requirements for “capital acquisition brokers” (CABs) – firms that serve to advise private placements or mergers and acquisitions and aren’t involved with managing customer accounts or trading securities.

CABs are FINRA members and subject to FINRA bylaws, but in return for limiting their activities, they are held to a relaxed set of rules compared with those of traditional broker-dealers.

Around 16% to 19% of firms currently registered with FINRA are solely engaged in advising clients around financial alternatives, mergers and acquisitions or raising equity capital and debt in private placements.

1-stock-exchange
Maryland private equity fund advisory firm, Blackstreet Capital Management, LLC, and its owner, Murry N. Gunty, have agreed to pay more than $3.1 million to resolve allegations they violated the Securities Exchange and Investment Advisors Acts, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Wednesday. The enforcement action arose out of SEC allegations that Blackstreet engaged in brokerage activity and charged fees without registering as a broker-dealer, among other alleged violations.

The SEC Asset Management Unit has now brought eight enforcement actions on cases involving private equity advisers. Though advisers may rely on brokers when conducting activities that previously required broker-dealer registration, the SEC has not backed down with respect to private equity funds and continues to enforce regulations surrounding unregistered broker-dealer activity.

SEC Alleges Non-Registered Blackstreet In-House Broker-Dealer Activity

In 2015 alone, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) brought more than 1,510 disciplinary actions, charged $95.1 million in fines and ordered $96.6 million in restitution payments.

Those violations resulting in the largest fines and monetary sanctions imposed in 2015 provide a good indication of the deficiencies FINRA takes most seriously and plans to target in the future. FINRA members will want to pay particular attention to these areas in 2016.

FINRA imposed its top five fine and restitution amounts in 2015 for (1) failing to waive mutual fund sales charges, (2) supervisory failures in Puerto Rico securities, (3) engaging in unsuitable mutual fund transactions, (4) supervisory failures related to trade surveillance, trade confirmations delivery and complex product sales, and (5) selling unregistered microcap shares and related AML violations.

Red_flag_waving

FINRA recently entered into a settlement with Gar Wood Securities LLC (the “AWC”) concerning allegations that Gar Wood facilitated the sale of restricted securities in violation of the Section 5 of the 1933 Act, and the Firm failed to identify “suspicious” activity in a customer’s account that should have warranted the filing of a Form SAR-SF. The customer, identified as ICG, was apparently in business of issuing loans secured by low-priced stock. Over a two-year period, ICG supposedly deposited penny stocks into its Gar Wood brokerage account and immediately liquidated the positions and wire transferred the proceeds. ICG’s activity caught the attention of FINRA, which identified the following “red flags” that Gar Wood apparently failed to act upon:

  • ICG opened a new account and delivered physical certificates representing a large block of thinly traded or low priced securities; • ICG had a pattern of depositing physical share certificates, immediately selling the shares and then wiring out the proceeds of the sale; • ICG deposited share certificates that were recently issued or represented a large percentage of the float for the security; • The lack of a restrictive legend on deposited shares seemed inconsistent with the date the customer acquired the securities or the nature of the transaction in which the securities were acquired; • ICG had limited assets but received an electronic transfer or journal transaction of large amounts of low priced unlisted securities; • Issuers’ SEC filings were not current, were incomplete or nonexistent; and ” Some of the company stocks deposited and sold in the ICG account involved shell companies that issued shares; and • JP Morgan, the original clearing firm for the ICG account, closed the ICG account after JP Morgan identified several red flags related to ICG’s operations.

The AWC is worthwhile reading for attorneys who counsel broker-dealers on anti-money laundering compliance.

pillars
Following its broad ruling in UBS Financial Services v. Carilion Clinic, 706 F.3d 319 (4th Cir. 2013), the 4th Circuit has issued two recent decisions that somewhat lessen the impact of the UBS holding. In UBS, the court held that a customer of a FINRA firm is anyone “not a broker or dealer, who purchases commodities or services from a FINRA member in the course of the member’s business activities,” including “investment banking and the securities business.” But in two recent rulings, the Court refused to further extend that definition, enjoining two FINRA arbitrations in which claims were based on (1) losses resulting from bonds issued by a FINRA member where the claimants purchased those bonds in a secondary market transaction from an unaffiliated third party and (2) losses resulting from purchases of fraudulent securities that were recommended by an attorney informally associated with an advisor at a FINRA-member firm.

Morgan Keegan & Co. v. Silverman, 706 F.3d 562 (4th Cir. 2013)

The Defendants in Morgan Keegan suffered losses in bond funds that were distributed and underwritten by Morgan Keegan (“MK”). The losses were allegedly in part the result of MK’s failure to disclose certain information regarding the valuation of – and risk associated with – the bonds. In enjoining the arbitration, the 4th Circuit noted that no contractual relationship existed between the Defendants and MK – the Defendants had not purchased the funds through an IPO but in a secondary market transaction from Legg Mason, a FINRA member unaffiliated with MK.

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