WILLIAM W KING Fined and Suspended by FINRA

WILLIAM WORTHEN KING (WILLIAM W KING, BILL KING) was recently fined $5,000.00 and suspended for 30 days by FINRA.  According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, available to the public on FINRA’s website, WILLIAM W KING was previously registered both as a broker and as an investment advisor and is not currently registered with any FINRA firm. King was registered for 31 years in the securities industry and listed with only one firm.

WILLIAM W KING, was registered with MERRILL, LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED of Vero Beach, Florida from 11/19/1985 - 05/04/2023. 

According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, WILLIAM W KING has 31 Disclosures on his FINRA CRD report. The latest disclosure is a “Regulatory” dated 3/3/2025 fining and suspending him.  The allegations were, “Without admitting or denying the findings, King consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he exercised discretion when he placed trades in six brokerage accounts held by four firm customers, three of whom were seniors, without prior written authorization from the customers and without his member firm having accepted the accounts as discretionary. The findings stated that King discussed investment strategy with the customers but had not received authorization to exercise discretion. In addition, King inaccurately attested in compliance questionnaires that he had not exercised discretionary trading authority in customer accounts.”

There is an “Employment Separation after Allegations” listed on WILLIAM W KING’s CRD report dated 4/21/2023 from MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED. The allegations were, “Allegations of unsuitable and unauthorized trading in certain clients' accounts.”  King voluntarily resigned.

The 29 “Customer Complaints” on WILLIAM W KING’s FINRA CRD report date from 1999 to 2024.   The significance of WILLIAM W KING’s complaints is underscored in FINRA NOTICE to MEMBERS 03-49. FINRA conducted a review of the CRD’s of all registered representatives, only .41% had been the subject of 3 or more customer complaints. In other words, King’s customer complaints rank him in the top one-hundredth percent of all registered representatives for customer complaints. 

According to a recent article in AdvisorHub, WILLIAM W KING, had co-led a team managing $1.4 billion in client assets. The article stated that King allegedly, from 2021 to 2023, placed 204 unauthorized trades in four customer accounts, according to the FINRA report. 

To discuss this article or any other securities issues, contact the Florida-based Soreide Law Group and speak to an experienced securities lawyer at no cost:  888-760-6552.

Soreide Law Group represents our clients nationwide before FINRA on a contingency fee basis.