New York Principal Broker Fined and Suspended in Sale of Unregistered Penny Stock

The Soreide Law Group, PLLC, (888) 760-6552, has obtained the following information on FINRA’s website under “Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions, September, 2013.” The information has been condensed.

Vincent Au (CRD #2005219, Registered Principal, New York, New York)

was fined $20,000, suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for 30 days, and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any principal capacity for an additional five months. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Vincent Au consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he failed to enforce his member firm’s procedures by failing to respond to suspicious activity. Au ignored red flags and did not take reasonable steps to investigate, and report the suspicious activity. Au acted as an advocate for his customer and attempted to convince the clearing firm to clear the trades. Instead of conducting investigations into the second clearing firm’s concerns and, if necessary, reporting suspicious activity, Au acted as an advocate in arguing to the clearing firm that the customer’s business should be accepted.
FINRA's findings stated that Au sold 50 million unregistered shares of sub-penny stock into the open market from a firm proprietary account. Au knew or should have known that when he deposited and liquidated the shares in the firm’s name that the shares were not registered and were not subject to an exemption from registration. There were numerous red flags that should have alerted Au to the share’s registration status.
Au was responsible for the failures to make the Rule 3070 filings based on his role as the firm’s chief compliance officer (CCO).
The suspension is in effect from August 19, 2013, through September 17, 2013.
The suspension in any principal capacity is in effect from September 18, 2013, through February 17, 2014.
(FINRA Case #2009016312701)

Vincent Au is currently employed by and registered with the following FINRA Firm:

JOHN CARRIS INVESTMENTS LLC
40 WALL STREET
SUITE 1706
NEW YORK, NY 10005
CRD# 145767
Registered with this firm since: 6/27/2012

According to FINRA's BrokerCheck, Vincent Au was previously registered with FINRA at the following brokerage firms:

AEGIS CAPITAL CORP.
CRD# 15007
NEW YORK, NY
08/2011 - 07/2012

AXIOM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC.
CRD# 26580
NEW YORK, NY
06/2012 - 06/2012

AVALON PARTNERS, INC.
CRD# 41357
NEW YORK, NY
10/1998 - 08/2011

This ends the information obtained from FINRA’s website.

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