Demaurio Cortez Clark of Acworth Georgia a stockbroker formerly registered with Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon findings that he converted an elderly Wells Fargo customer’s funds. Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent No. 2019064268201 (Mar. 27, 2020).
According to the AWC, in July of 2018, a customer of Demaurio’s at Wells Fargo named MO placed about $40,000.00 in a bank account with Demaurio’s help and had later invested $10,000.00 in a brokerage account at Wells Fargo.
The AWC stated that two additional brokerage accounts in MO’s name had been established by Demaurio without the customer’s knowledge or consent. The accounts had been set up at an outside institution. Demaurio subsequently arranged for funds to be drawn from the customer’s savings account at Wells Fargo to fund the outside brokerage account.
From July of 2018 to July of 2019, Clark arranged for $16,560.00 to be transferred from the customer’s accounts to Clark’s own checking account. FINRA stated that the stockbroker knew that the funds placed in his checking account were not actually his and that MO did not provide any authorization for Clark’s actions. FINRA found Clark’s conduct violative of FINRA Rules 2010 and 2150(a).
Clark was discharged by Wells Fargo Clearing Services on September 19, 2019 based upon the stockbroker admitting during an internal investigation that he embezzled funds belonging to a customer and had created bogus bank records.
