Gregory Edward Barr, of Boca Raton, Florida, a stockbroker formerly employed with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based on consenting to findings that he effected unauthorized transactions in customer accounts. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No. 2014041373401 (June 14, 2016).
According to the AWC, on November 21, 2013, Barr exercised discretion to sell four customers’ stock positions. Evidently, Barr never communicated with the customers on the days in which the transactions were placed. The AWC stated that Barr lacked written authorization from customers to place transactions in their accounts, and the firm never approved the customers’ accounts for purposes of Barr’s discretionary trading. Consequently, Barr’s conduct was found by FINRA to be violative of FINRA Rule 2010.
FINRA Public Disclosure reveals that while Barr has been employed with Salomon Smith Barney, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., and Raymond James & Associates, Inc., he has been referenced in eight customer initiated investment related disputes pertaining to allegations of his sales practice violations. Specifically, a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim involving Barr’s conduct was settled for $24,000.00 in damages founded on allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligence, and suitability concerning Barr’s variable annuity and preferred stock recommendations. FINRA Arbitration No. 09-02745 (Nov. 30, 2010).
Afterward, a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim regarding Barr’s activities was resolved for $14,999.00 in damages based upon accusations that Barr over-concentrated the customer’s assets in preferred stock, and liquidated the customer’s Citigroup holdings without the consent of the customer. FINRA Arbitration No. 09-06738 (Nov. 30, 2010). Thereafter, a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim involving Barr’s conduct was settled for $10,000.00 in damages supported by allegations of negligence, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and suitability relating to energy-sector stocks and limited partnership interests executed in the customer’s account between May of 2013 and May 22, 2014. FINRA Arbitration No. 16-01602 (May. 4, 2017).
Further, a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim regarding Barr’s activities was resolved for $14,000.00 in damages founded on accusations that from March 1, 2012 to May 1, 2014, fiduciary duties and contractual duties owed to the customer had been breached, unsuitable equity transactions were placed in the customer’s account, and the customer had been defrauded. FINRA Arbitration No. 16-02945 (Aug. 17, 2017).
Barr is also the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim, which settled for $13,950.00 in damages based upon allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligence and suitability of transactions placed in the customer’s private wealth account and individual retirement account between 2012 and 2014. FINRA Arbitration No. 16-03373 (Aug. 30, 2017). Moreover, a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim involving Barr’s conduct was settled for $69,500.00 in damages supported by accusations of negligence and suitability relating to direct investment products and corporate debt transactions placed in the customer’s portfolio from June 13, 2014 to June 30, 2016. FINRA Arbitration No. 16-03374 (Oct. 11, 2017).
FINRA Public Disclosure confirms that Barr has been terminated from two brokerage firms founded on his improper conduct. Particularly, on May 22, 2014, he was fired from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. based upon allegations that he exercised discretion in customer accounts without authorization. He was then fired from Raymond James & Associates, Inc. on June 30, 2016, supported by accusations that he failed to document transactions in violation of a heightened supervision plan.
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