David Leroy Johnson (also known as D. Leroy Johnson) of Houston Texas a stockbroker formerly registered with LPL Financial LLC has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended for three months from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon findings that Johnson falsified signatures of LPL Financial customers and that he caused the securities broker dealer to maintain false records and books. Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent No. 2018060527701 (Sept. 15, 2020).
According to the AWC, from September of 2016 to September of 2018, signature pages on forms which were previously executed by customers had been reused by Johnson to effect additional transactions. Johnson pulled signatures from forms for executing fund transfers and establishing new accounts. FINRA noted that Johnson was supposed to have his customers provide fresh signatures on forms but he instead tried to pass on the reused signatures as originals so that transactions could be processed. FINRA determined that creating and submitting documents which falsely reflected customer signatures was violative of FINRA Rule 2010.
FINRA stated that at least two documents submitted by Johnson were required to be held with the securities broker dealer as part of its overall record. Johnson’s application of false signatures on the forms rendered them inaccurate which led LPL Financial to hold inaccurate records and books. The stockbroker’s conduct in this respect was violative of FINRA Rules 2010 and 4511.
On October 18, 2018, Johnson was discharged by LPL Financial based upon allegations of his failure to comply with its document signature policy. The securities broker dealer alleged that Johnson violated this policy through his submission of previously executed documents.
