FINRA Suspends Wells Fargo Broker for Private Securities Transactions
David Manor, a currently unregistered representative formerly employed with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC (Wells Fargo), has agreed to an Offer of Settlement by the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the findings that he engaged in outside business activities without his firm’s approval, made unsuitable recommendations to his customer and caused that customer approximately $224,000 in losses in less than three months. FINRA’s findings state that while employed by Wells Fargo, David Manor, of Brookline, Massachusetts, engaged in unapproved outside business activity in which he assisted a customer, a 75 year old retiree with limited income, in selling mineral rights on a property he owned. In return for his help, the customer paid Mr. Manor $107,000 that Manor then used to open a brokerage account away from his member firm and traded from the account on behalf of his customer. FINRA stated that Mr. Manor effected risky, unsuitable options trades from the account, and caused his customer to lose approximately $224,000 in less than three months.
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