Atlanta Firm Fined and Censured by FINRA for Supervisory Failures

Turner & Company, L.L.C. (CRD #43177, Atlanta, Georgia)

was censured and fined $65,000 by FINRA for allegedly failing to establish, maintain, and enforce Written Supervisory Procedures (also known as WSPs) designed to comply with securities laws and regulations. These laws include prohibiting insider trading and NASD Rule 3050, which requires brokers to have duplicate copies of account statements for their personal brokerage accounts sent to their employer firms.

FINRA stated that allegedly two registered representatives of Turner & Company had disclosed outside brokerage accounts, but Turner & Company failed to monitor those transactions in the outside accounts. Turner & Company did not have any procedures in place to track statements.

FINRA found that allegedly Turner & Company served as the placement agent for a $3.9 million contingency offering and no escrow account was established. Investor funds were wired directly from their accounts to the title company handling the closing. Turner & Company closed the offering and caused the title company to release the deposited funds to the issuer, despite the fact that the offering had not received the $3.9 million in bona fide investments required to close. This caused Turner & Company to allegedly violate Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-9.

FINRA also found that Turner & Company did not deliver an official statement (OS) with the sales of municipal securities. Turner & Company included a statement in the confirmations advising the customers that, “complete information will be provided upon request.” This does not satisfy the requirements of Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Rule G-32(a)(iii)(B).
(FINRA Case #2011025756301)

This ends the summation of FINRA's "Disciplinary and Other Actions, June, 2014" from their website.

If you feel the supervisory procedures in your brokerage were inadequate, Soreide Law Group offers a free consultation and portfolio analysis to determine if you have legal grounds to pursue a FINRA arbitration. To speak with a lawyer call (888) 760-6552.