investment fraud

Christine Anne Warner (also known as Christine Anne Schneider), of Monaca, PA, a stockbroker registered with Fortune Financial Services Inc., has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended for forty days from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any principal capacity because Warner failed to supervise certain registered representatives. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent No. 2020065435401 (December 8, 2022).

According to the AWC, from May 2017 through July 2021, during the time that she was associated with Fortune Financial, Warner failed to reasonably supervise the sales practices of her registered representatives. FINRA states that one of the representatives recommended that customers partially liquidate variable annuities and exchange the proceeds for lower-cost variable annuities. These recommendations often exceeded the permitted withdrawal amounts on the annuities and ultimately caused customers to pay $227,584.13 in surrender charges. Warner did not review the representative’s recommendations to determine if the savings warranted the exchanges. Warner also failed to reasonably review the red flags concerning excessive variable annuity switches by that representative. Therefore, Warner violated FINRA Rules 2010, 3110, and 2330.

Warner was associated with Fortune Financial Services Inc. in Monaca, PA, as a stockbroker from May of 2017 to April of 2021.

Warner has been associated with Monticello Financial Group LLC in Mt. Pleasant, TX, as a stockbroker since April 8, 2021.