Oppenheimer Broker Fined and Suspended by FINRA for Falsifying Letters of Authorization
Stephen Oberman, a registered representative formerly employed with the Chicago, Illinois based Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Oppenheimer), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the described sanctions and the entry of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he falsified signatures on at least 51 letters of authorization (LOAs) requesting fund disbursements from and address changes to a customer’s account. FINRA’s findings stated that while serving as a General Securities Representative at Oppenheimer, Stephen Mark Oberman, of Naperville, Illinois, was assigned to the account of a customer that had a trust with three trustees. Mr. Oberman falsified the trustees’ signatures by photocopying their signatures from other firm documents and cutting and pasting them onto the LOAs. Even after two of the trustees had died, Mr. Oberman continued to falsify their signatures, only disclosing this to Oppenheimer after learning that two of the three trustees were deceased.
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