Steve Baptist of New York New York a stockbroker registered with Joseph Gunnar Co. LLC has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon consenting to findings that (1) Baptist executed unauthorized trades in customers’ accounts and (2) Baptist exercised discretion in customer accounts without having authorization from Joseph Gunnar. Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent No. 2018058666001 (Aug. 8, 2019).
According to the AWC, Baptist serviced the account of customer SA, who died in March of 2017. No less than one week following the customer’s death, two trades had been effected by Baptist in SA’s account which generated commissions for Baptist. Those trades placed by Baptist following SA’s death failed to be authorized.
This is not the first time Baptist executed trades in the account of a deceased customer. In particular, Baptist also serviced the account of GV – a customer who died in October of 2017. A few weeks after GV died, two trades were placed by Baptist in the customer’s account without authorization. The trades Baptist placed generated losses for the customer. FINRA found Baptist’s unauthorized trading to be violative of FINRA Rule 2010.
The AWC stated that Baptist effected discretionary trades in customer accounts without proper authorization. Baptist exercised discretionary authority in the accounts owed by five Joseph Gunnar customers in 2017. The AWC stated that he lacked written authorization from Joseph Gunnar customers to place trades in their accounts on a discretionary basis. The customers’ accounts were not authorized by Joseph Gunnar for discretionary trading. FINRA found Baptist’s conduct violative of FINRA Rules 2010 and National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Rule 2510(b).
Baptist was discharged by Joseph Gunnar on May 29, 2018 supported by accusations of his unauthorized trading.
