FINRA Fines and Suspends Former Raymond James Broker for Discretionary Trade Violations
William McWilliams, a registered representative formerly employed with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (Raymond James), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he exercised discretion at least 28 times in eight customer accounts without the necessary prior written authorization. FINRA found that William Harrison McWilliams, of Columbia, Missouri, failed to obtain the necessary written authorization from his customers or his member firm when he exercised discretion in the accounts of eight customers. According to FINRA, Mr. McWilliams exercised discretionary trading authority in response to customer liquidation requests six times in four customers’ accounts without the requisite prior written authorization from customers and without the accounts accepted as discretionary by his member firm. Further, FINRA found that Mr. McWilliams exercised discretionary trading authority at least 22 times in four other customer accounts without discussing the trades with the customers on the day of the trades, which was required by the firm.
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