Kevin Curry, of New York, New York, a stockbroker currently registered with Peterson Investments, Inc., has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member firm in any capacity after consenting to findings that he effected unauthorized trades in a customer’s account. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No. 2014042721001 (Dec. 9, 2016).
According to the AWC, from March of 2011 to March of 2014, while Curry was associated with Peterson Investments, Inc., he effected transactions in the account of a customer on a discretionary basis. Apparently, the customer and Curry agreed upon certain investments to be transacted upon in the customer’s account; however, the trading in which Curry engaged in occurred on days that the customer had not contacted him.
The AWC stated that no written authorization had been provided to Curry from the customer that allowed for Curry to exercise discretion in the customer’s account. Additionally, Peterson Investments, Inc., had not deemed the customer’s account as approved for purposes of discretionary trading. As such, FINRA found that Curry’s conduct was violative of FINRA Rule 2010 and NASD Rule 2510(b).
FINRA Public Disclosure reveals that Curry has been subject to a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim from February 24, 2012, which settled for $23,600.00 in damages based upon allegations that Curry applied hard selling tactics concerning options investments, and made misrepresentations to the customer by claiming that such investments were riskless.
On June 4, 2014, a customer initiated investment related arbitration action involving Curry’s conduct was settled for $285,000.00 in damages based upon allegations that Curry effected trades in the customers’ account without proper authorization, churned the customers’ account, and committed fraud. The customer additionally alleged that Peterson Investments, Inc., failed to supervise Curry’s activities pertaining to the customer’s affairs.
Since 1993, Curry has been associated with four different broker dealers, all of which have been expelled by securities regulators for violation of federal securities laws or is otherwise defunct.
Guiliano Law Group
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