Ronald F. Paull III, of Olyphant, Pennsylvania, a stockbroker formerly associated with LPL Financial LLC, has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity after consenting to findings that he effected trades in customer accounts without authorization. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No. 2015046621101 (Dec. 7 ,2016).
According to the AWC, between July 31, 2012 and August 6, 2015, at a time when Paul was registered with LPL Financial, he effected sales to and provided servicing of annuity contracts for an estimated eighty firm clients. The AWC stated that customers were contacted by Paull in July of 2014, in which Paull reportedly obtained permission from customers to effect trades in the customers’ accounts.
Seventy-one customers, by February of 2015, reportedly agreed to Paull’s requests for rebalancing of the customers’ accounts. However, in every case, Paull received no written authorization from such customers in order to effect trades on a discretionary basis. Further, LPL reportedly did not deem the customers’ accounts to be approved for purposes of discretionary trading. The AWC indicated that LPL terminated him on August 6, 2015, promptly after learning of his misconduct. FINRA found that Paull’s conduct was violative of FINRA Rule 2010 and NASD Rule 2510(b).
FINRA Public Disclosure reveals that Paull has been subject to five customer initiated investment related arbitration actions containing allegations of misconduct. Particularly, on April 1, 2009, a customer was awarded $10,000.00 per an investment related arbitration action involving Paull’s conduct, based upon allegations that Paull failed to follow the customers’ variable annuity withdrawal request.
Further, on April 23, 2013, a customer filed an investment related arbitration claim involving Paull’s actions, in which the customer alleged that Paull made a misrepresentation to the customer concerning an annuity product, and effected an unsuitable annuity transaction. Subsequently, on May 8, 2014, a customer filed an investment related arbitration action involving Paull’s actions, in which the customer requested $29,222.53 in damages based upon allegations that Paull made misrepresentations to the customer concerning investments, effected unsuitable transactions in the customer’s accounts, and was liable for the customer’s substandard investment performance.
On September 23, 2014, another customer filed an investment related arbitration claim involving Paull’s conduct, in which the customer requested $37,020.00 in damages based upon allegations of unsuitability and poor investment performance. On November 5, 2014, a customer filed an investment related arbitration claim against Paull, in which the customer requested $6,982.96 in damages based upon allegations that Paull did not disclose the penalties associated with terminating a variable annuity investment.
In August of 2015, Paull’s registration with LPL Financial LLC ended. Since September of 2015, he has been registered as a stockbroker with Cambridge Investment Research.
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