MetLife and Pruco Securities Broker Barred by FINRA for Misrepresentations in Connection with Variable Annuities
Winston Turner, a former broker at Pruco Securities LLC, and MetLife Securities, Inc., was permanently barred from acting as a broker or associating with firms that sell securities to the public by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) due to findings that he made fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions in connection with variable annuity investments. FINRA found that Winston Turner, of Tampa, Florida, induced three customers to purchase securities by intentionally making misstatements regarding the earnings to be generated by their variable annuities. According to FINRA, Mr. Turner falsely told three customers that their variable annuity investments would earn a “guaranteed” minimum annual interest and misrepresented to a customer the tax implications of her variable annuity purchase. FINRA also found that Mr. Turner attempted to circumvent his member firm’s supervisory system by misrepresenting the source of funds in connections with variable annuity applications. Further, Mr. Turner misrepresented to his firm his personal email address as the email address of his customers in order to ensure that the customers were not contacted.
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