Tyrone Maurice Smiles, of Newark, New Jersey, a stockbroker formerly registered with Prudential Investment Management Services LLC (PIMS), has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity supported by findings that he engaged in outside business activities while registered with Prudential Investment Management Services and provided misleading and false information to FINRA when investigated for this. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent No. 2020065022801 (November 23, 2021).
According to the AWC, between 2015 and 2020, an overseas vacation property rental business called B&B Management was run by Smiles. The regulator states that two properties were owned by Smiles, for which Smiles arranged rentals. A different outside business activity involved Smiles referring customers to a firm affiliated with Prudential Investment Management Services, resulting in customers’ purchasing a collective forty-five variable annuities. The regulator states that Smiles received $118,007.95 in compensation for making these referrals. Smiles failed to tell PIMS about these two outside business activities or get the firm’s approval. He violated FINRA Rules 2010 and 3270 for this reason.
The AWC states that Smiles was investigated for checks he received through referrals. Smiles claimed that those checks were related to a vacation property timeshare, not payments relating to customer referrals. FINRA found that Smiles violated Rules 2010 and 8210 for providing misleading and false testimony.
Smiles was discharged by Prudential Investment Management Services on November 21, 2019, founded upon accusations of Smiles’ unauthorized customer referrals relating to variable annuity sales for which he received compensation.
