John Alex (CRD: 2020710) settled customer disputes at Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services between 2011 and 2025, according to BrokerCheck, which lists him as John L. Alex.
ROBERT SETTIMIO CUPELLO (ROBERT S CUPELLO) has been suspended and fined $5,000.00 by FINRA for allegedly recommending six variable annuity exchanges to elderly clients without a reasonable basis to believe that the transactions were suitable. This allegedly occurred between July 2021 and December 2022.
According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, available to the public on FINRA’s website, ROBERT S CUPELLO is currently registered as a broker with SUPREME ALLIANCE LLC CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, since 5/19/2021.Cupello has been in the securities industry for 40 years and has been listed with 13 firms. There are 2 disclosures on ROBERT S CUPELLO’s FINRA CRD report, both are “Regulatory” disclosures. The “Regulatory” dated 2/1/1984 was initiated by New York and fined Cupello $500.00. On 2/18/2026 the “Regulatory” initiated by FINRA, fined Cupello $5,000.00 and suspended him for two months with a start date of 3/16/2026 and the end date of 5/15/2026.
According to the FINRA order, without admitting or denying FINRA’s findings, ROBERT S CUPELLO consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he allegedly recommended that six senior clients exchange their existing deferred variable annuity contracts to purchase new deferred variable annuities allegedly without a reasonable basis to believe that the transactions were suitable.
FINRA’s findings stated that ROBERT S CUPELLO allegedly failed to conduct a reasonable comparative analysis of the clients' existing and prospective living benefit riders to determine whether the clients would benefit from the new riders.
According to the FINRA report, ROBERT S CUPELLO allegedly did not have a reasonable basis to believe that the exchanges to purchase variable annuities with maximum guaranteed withdrawal benefit riders were suitable for the six senior clients. Each client, according to FINRA, intended to rely on income from these variable annuities for their retirement, most within or around a year of making the exchange.
FINRA alleged that most clients had already started taking income from their existing annuities. ROBERT S CUPELLO, according to FINRA, allegedly did not have a reasonable basis to believe that the clients would benefit from the new rider's step-up feature. FINRA alleges that Cupello failed to reasonably consider the risk and impact of a reduction in the withdrawal rate when the contract value reached zero for all the clients.
According to the FINRA report, ROBERT S CUPELLO allegedly assumed that the clients would not outlive their contract balances without reasonably considering various factors that could affect that assumption, including market performance, unanticipated needs and life expectancy.
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John Alex (CRD: 2020710) settled customer disputes at Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services between 2011 and 2025, according to BrokerCheck, which lists him as John L. Alex.
Sam Bhushan (CRD: 4884717) is named in several pending customer complaints and one settled dispute, according to his BrokerCheck report.
Sterling Louviere (CRD: 2021328), listed on BrokerCheck as Sterling Vaughn Louviere, is named in a pending customer claim over Reg D private placements, with Cabin Securities as the firm named.
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