Ricky Alan Mantei (also known as Ricky Alan Mantel) of Lexington South Carolina a stockbroker and branch office manager formerly employed by J.P. Turner Company LLC has been charged by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Department of Enforcement in a Complaint alleging that Mantei engaged in unauthorized prearranged trading involving customer accounts while employed by J.P. Turner Company LLC. Department of Enforcement v. Ricky Alan Mantei Disciplinary Proceeding No. 2015045257501 (Aug. 1, 2019).
According to the Complaint, Mantei operated a J.P. Turner Company LLC branch office in Lexington South Carolina. Allegedly, the fifteen stockbrokers who Mantei supervised routinely advised customers to purchase fixed income products. Customers seemingly purchased products including structured certificates of deposit – which represent a bank’s debt obligations. The Complaint stated that structured certificates of deposit were also sold by customers of J.P. Turner Company LLC with the help of a J.P. Turner Company bond trader, SP, who would turn to the secondary market and procure bids from prospective buyers.
Supposedly, customers’ structured certificates of deposit were sold to SP after the bond trader applied a mark-down, and SP later sold those certificates of deposit in the secondary market to a winning bidder. Apparently, when customers sought to purchase structured certificates of deposit, SP would turn to the secondary market for possible sellers. When the offer prices had been approved, SP allegedly purchased the structured certificates of deposit and applied a mark-up before selling them to customers.
Allegedly, at times the structured certificate of deposit market was illiquid, causing Mantei to arrange transactions between J.P. Turner Company customers. The firm’s written supervisory procedures required cross-trading to be identified on order tickets, which would then prompt the firm to identify for each customer the benefit that each customer would generate by the transaction. Subsequently, a fair value was supposed to be determined by the trading desk given market conditions and comparisons to other instruments. Critically, the Complaint stated that the firm maintained prohibitions on trading which constituted prearranged trading.
Apparently, the procedures relating to cross-trades were not followed. Specifically, there had been no indication that cross-trades were effected on order tickets, or that the necessary information had been conveyed within those trades. FINRA Department of Enforcement alleged that Mantei attempted to bypass the firm’s policies meant to prevent prearranged trading; conduct violative of FINRA Rule 2010 and MSRB Rule G-17.
FINRA Public Disclosure confirms that Mantei has been identified in twelve customer initiated investment related disputes containing allegations of his violative conduct while employed by securities broker dealers including Centaurus Financial Inc. and J.P. Turner Company LLC and Summit Brokerage Services Inc. Specifically, a customer filed an investment related arbitration claim regarding Mantei’s activities where the customer sought $100,000.00 in damages supported by accusations that Mantei neglected to supervise a stockbroker who gave the customer unsuitable advise and caused the customer to incur unwarranted losses. FINRA Arbitration No. 18-01848 (May 21, 2018).
Subsequently, Mantei was referenced in a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim in which the customer requested as much as $500,000.00 in damages founded on allegations that between 2008 and 2018, fiduciary obligations to the customer had been breached; poor investment advice was provided; and unfounded statements had been made to the customer concerning real estate security, corporate debt and certificate of deposit products. FINRA Arbitration No. 18-03810 (Nov. 7, 2018). Thereafter, a customer filed an investment related arbitration claim involving Mantei’s conduct where the customer sought $1,000,000.00 in damages based upon accusations that between 2012 and 2017, fiduciary duties were breached; the customer’s account had been administered negligently; and the customer was seemingly defrauded in regard to corporate debt transactions. FINRA Arbitration No. 19-01019 (Apr. 26, 2019).
Another customer filed an investment related arbitration claim concerning Mantei’s activities in which the customer requested $100,000.00 in damages supported by allegations that Mantei neglected to supervise the real estate security and corporate debt trades placed in customers’ accounts between 2015 and 2017. FINRA Arbitration No. 19-01298 (May 14, 2019). Mantei is referenced in two additional customer initiated investment related arbitration claims where customers collectively requested $200,000.00 in damages founded on accusations of the customers’ corporate transactions, and the servicing of the customer’s accounts, lacking any supervision from Mantei while he was branch manager for J.P. Turner Company. FINRA Arbitration No. 19-01539 (June 13, 2019); FINRA Arbitration 19-01504 (June 20, 2019).
Mantei’s employment with J.P. Turner Company LLC has been terminated as of June 15, 2015. Since May 19, 2015, he has been registered with Centaurus Financial Inc.
