Michael John Ahearn of Yardley Pennsylvania a stockbroker formerly employed by Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner Smith Incorporated has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity according to an Order Accepting Offer of Settlement containing findings that Ahearn lied to FINRA during the course of a FINRA investigation into Ahearn’s knowledge of an unauthorized person servicing a customer’s account. Department of Enforcement v. Michael John Ahearn Disciplinary Proceeding No. 2016051389101 (Apr. 29, 2019).
According to the Order, Ahearn failed to be forthcoming with FINRA personnel in both Ahearn’s written responses to requests FINRA made about his activities and through Ahearn’s recorded testimony before FINRA personnel. Supposedly, requests for information had been made by FINRA concerning Ahearn’s knowledge of a stockbroker, GW – a person who Ahearn befriended almost twenty years prior – who was listed on Merrill Lynch accounts as the trustee of a customer’s trust. Supposedly, FINRA was investigating whether GW, who happened to be a stockbroker at another FINRA member brokerage firm, failed to notify that firm that he was designated as executor of customer MBM’s estate and trustee of MBM’s portfolio. Evidently, MBM’s portfolio was comprised of nearly $700,000.00 that MBM received when her mother passed away.
Supposedly, after the $700,000.00 was received by MBM, GW opened up a number of accounts with securities broker dealers including Wells Fargo, who Ahearn worked for prior to Merrill Lynch, and Merrill Lynch. When the accounts were established, account documentation listing GW on the accounts had been prepared with Ahearn’s involvement and direction. The Order stated that Ahearn knew when handling the account opening documentation that GW was a stockbroker at another firm; however, he represented GW as having been retired or unemployed, and unaffiliated with a securities broker dealer. FINRA found Ahearn to have opened the brokerage accounts under false pretenses.
Subsequently, Ahearn was subject of a FINRA investigatory request under Rule 8210 in which he was probed on the veracity of his comments about GW’s employment status. FINRA was apparently lied to by Ahearn. The regulator was told by Ahearn that GW informed him about not being associated with a securities broker dealer. He reportedly lied to FINRA again when he testified under oath. Evidently, Ahearn later admitted that he lied. Particularly, Ahearn informed his supervisor at Merrill Lynch that he was aware that GW was a stockbroker at another firm, and that Ahearn listed himself, rather than GW, on the customer’s accounts because he was aware that GW was forbidden from being MBM’s adviser on any accounts at GW’s securities broker dealer. FINRA found Ahearn’s conduct violative of FINRA Rules 2010 and 8210.
Ahearn was discharged by Merrill Lynch on August 26, 2016 founded on allegations that while under a firm investigation, Ahearn lied to the firm about a registered representative’s trustee status.
