Mark Carter of Charlotte, North Carolina, a financial advisor Mark Carter (CRD# 6387371) associated with Pruco Securities was recently suspended and fined in connection with alleged rule violations.
FINRA Public Disclosure shows that Mr. Carter also was the subject of a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (No. 2024081675801). According to the AWC, Mr. Carter dated November 2025, alleges that Carter recommended unsuitable options trades to two customers. According to the Letter, both customers had investment objectives of “capital appreciation” and specified that they had “long” time horizons for their investments.
According to the AWC, Mr. Carter allegedly recommended and placed a high volume of options trades in the customers’ accounts, ultimately conducting “more than 2,200 option trades” in their accounts that resulted “in annualized cost-to-equity ratios averaging 42%, meaning that [the customers] stood little chance of making money from the trading (or even breaking even).” While the customers suffered losses of more than $600,000, or 99% of their accounts’ value, according to the Letter, Mr. Carter received $6,667 in commissions in connection with the trades.
FINRA’s findings state that the “options trading recommendations were not in Customer A and B’s best interest, and he lacked reasonable grounds to believe the recommendations were suitable for them.” It goes on to state further that during the last seven months of 2023, he did not have a reasonable basis to believe the transactions were not excessive, or that they were in the customers’ best interest. In addition, FINRA found that Mr. Carter exercised discretionary authority in the customers’ accounts without prior written authorization, and that he marked solicited trades as unsolicited. Finding that he violated industry rules, FINRA suspended him for nine months, imposed a fine of $20,000, and ordered him to pay $6,773 in disgorgement.
Mr. Carter’s FINRA Public Disclosure discloses an investor complaint, filed in 2024, alleging that as a representative of Pruco Securities, Carter made unauthorized trades in several retirement accounts. The complaint was settled for $672,038.58.
According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Mark Carter is no longer registered with any state or broker-dealer firm and has been suspended by FINRA.
The Guiliano Law Group, P.C.
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