FINRA Suspends Former Merrill Advisor Over Unauthorized Trades
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued a 45-day suspension and a $5,000 fine on a former Merrill Lynch advisor who allegedly completed unauthorized trades in three separate client accounts.
The former California-based Merrill advisor, Conrad Branson, allegedly transacted 14 trades in an account for a client known as ‘Customer A’ between September 2019 and February 2020 without obtaining prior authorization, knowledge or consent, according to FINRA. FINRA further alleged that Branson completed trades in non-discretionary accounts without obtaining prior written consent from Customer A and two additional clients during the same time period.
According to FINRA, Merrill has reimbursed Customer A for $78,919 in losses. Branson, who was managing nearly $150 million in client assets, departed Merrill in June to join Birchwood ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ïalth Advisors, which is affiliated with advisory firm aggregator Kingswood US. According to BrokerCheck, Branson also was involved in a previous client dispute related to unauthorized trading in April 2020, which settled for $34,341 while Branson did not contribute.
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