Brian Joseph Panfil of New Woodstock New York a stockbroker formerly registered with Ridgeway & Conger Inc. has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity according to a FINRA Office of Hearing Officers Default Decision containing findings that Panfil executed unauthorized trades in the customer’s account and placed transactions in the customer’s account that were not suitable for the customer. Department of Enforcement v. Brian Joseph Panfil Disciplinary Proceeding No. 2015045549301 (Apr. 6, 2018).
According to the Decision, an investigation was commenced by FINRA in July of 2015 after FINRA was apprised of a customer’s complaint against Panfil of mishandling the customer’s account through effecting transactions that were neither authorized nor suitable for the customer.
Evidently, between April of 2012 and March of 2015, twenty-four mutual fund trades were placed by Panfil in accounts owned by four customers despite Panfil having no adequate foundation to conclude that the transactions he effected were appropriate for the customers. The Decision stated that in those circumstances, mutual funds had been sold by him after the positions had been held by customers for sixty to ninety days.
The Decision stated that customers were subjected to fees and charges totaling $27,924.00 as a result of the mutual fund switches that Panfil placed, wherein the majority of those sums were paid to Panfil. Evidently, the benefit of the mutual funds that customers were placed into had been diminished as a result of the fees and charges that customers had incurred. FINRA Office of Hearing Officers concluded that it was not suitable for the mutual fund switches to have been placed because those funds were meant to be held by investors on a long term basis rather than a mere sixty to ninety days.
Moreover, the Decision stated that there was no adequate basis for concluding that customers’ best interests would be served by the switching, and the funds which Panfil switched customers into maintained objectives for investing that were similar to funds that those customers previously held. Consequently, FINRA Office of Hearing Officers held that Panfil’s conduct was violative of FINRA Rules 2010 and 2111 as well as National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Rule 2310 and IM 2310-2.
The Decision further revealed that signatures of customers had been falsified by Panfil to effect transactions in the customers’ accounts. Particularly, Panfil and the customers whose accounts Panfil serviced were required by Ridgeway & Conger’s policies to complete and sign forms for mutual fund switching prior to executing the transactions. Yet, those forms had not been provided to certain customers to complete or sign before the transactions had been placed, and the signatures contained on the switch forms were not authentic. FINRA Office of Hearing Officers concluded that those customers’ signatures had been forged by Panfil or forged at his direction; conduct violative of FINRA Rule 2010.
In addition, FINRA Office of Hearing Officers determined that transactions had been placed by Panfil on a discretionary basis in customers’ accounts even though Panfil lacked authorization. The Decision stated that short-term mutual fund switching decisions had been made by Panfil, wherein Panfil made the decisions with respect to the funds that customers would purchase and sell as well as the price and time in which those purchases and sales would occur. Evidently; however, no written authorization had been furnished by customers to enable Panfil to exercise discretion in their accounts and Panfil lacked the firm’s approval for those accounts to be maintained as discretionary accounts. Panfil’s conduct was found by FINRA Office of Hearing Officers to be violative of NASD Rule 2510 and FINRA Rule 2010 in this respect.
Panfil’s registration with Ridgeway & Conger, Inc. was terminated on April 14, 2015. Since July 25, 2002, Panfil has been associated with eight different broker dealers, one of which has been expelled by securities regulators for violation of federal securities laws or is otherwise defunct.
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