Todd Franklin Kling, of New York, New York, a stockbroker currently registered with Joseph Stone Capital LLC, has been suspended for three months from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based on findings that he recommended unsuitable and excessive trades in a customer’s account during the time that he was registered with Joseph Stone Capital. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent No. 2019063821606 (December 17, 2021).
According to the AWC, from March of 2018 to November of 2019, excessive and unsuitable trades were made in a customer’s account by Kling. The AWC states that the customer was retired and elderly and followed Kling’s advice on 115 trades made in their account during this period.
The AWC states that the month-end equity in the customer’s account was $259,633.00. Kling advised the customer on trades with a principal value of $5,414,465.00. This resulted in the customer having an annualized turnover rate of 12 and an annualized cost-to-equity ratio of more than 35 percent. FINRA states that $153,879.00 in trading costs and commissions had been charged to the customer.
Kling violated FINRA Rules 2010 and 2111 for this reason.
Kling has been registered with Joseph Stone Capital as a stockbroker since July 30, 2016. He has been registered with Joseph Stone Wealth Management LLC as an investment adviser representative since July 18, 2018.
