Tag Archives: Office of Hearing Officers

Contrary To What FINRA Believes, Rule 8210 Is Not A Search Warrant

By Alan Wolper on February 18, 2019 Posted in FINRA, Rule 8210

I have been waiting for a while to write about this issue, since it arose in an Enforcement case I handled for a client, and I wanted the matter to run its full course at FINRA before I started throwing stones. Sadly, there are so many things I could complain about here. The fact that… Continue Reading

FINRA’s “Massive” Discovery Failure Results In…Absolutely Nothing

By Alan Wolper on July 9, 2018 Posted in Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Sanctions, Uncategorized

You are not going to believe this one. Here are the unadulterated facts, taken directly from the Order entered by the FINRA Hearing Officer (an Order, by the way, which FINRA elected not to publish on its website): Five days into an Enforcement hearing against Respondent Steven Larson, “Enforcement disclosed that it just realized it… Continue Reading

What Else Is New? FINRA Skates Despite “Massive” Failure To Produce Documents

By Alan Wolper on June 23, 2017 Posted in Discovery, Enforcement, FINRA, Rule 8210, Rule 9251, Uncategorized

Let’s play pretend. Can you imagine what FINRA would do to a respondent broker-dealer in an Enforcement action that announced on Day Five of the hearing – i.e., during the “final phase” of the hearing – that – whoops! – it had forgotten to produce certain documents that it should have produced eight months before… Continue Reading

Some Amusing OHO Decisions

By Michael Gross on April 12, 2017 Posted in Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Sanctions

As a former member of FINRA Enforcement’s Litigation Department and a current practitioner in FINRA regulatory matters, I have read my fair share of decisions from the Office of Hearing Officers (OHO). I recently read the Southeast Investments/Black decision, which was issued in March. There is some good stuff in there – from an entertainment… Continue Reading

Is There A Catch-22 To Fighting FINRA Charges?

By Michael Gross on February 13, 2017 Posted in Defenses, Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Registered Representative, Sanctions

Here is a fascinating analysis by my partner, Michael Gross, of FINRA’s twisted logic when it comes to sanctions: your very decision not to admit liability and to put FINRA to its proof can, and will, be held against you when it comes time to determine the appropriate sanctions. Or will it? – Alan The FINRA… Continue Reading

Procedural Motions In FINRA Enforcement Actions: An Exercise In Futility

By Alan Wolper on July 8, 2016 Posted in Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Rule 9253

Defending a FINRA Enforcement action is not easy. This stems principally from the fact that FINRA simply won’t file a complaint in the first place if they believe that there’s any realistic chance they will not win the case. Thus, they expect to win every time they do file a complaint, and perhaps not unreasonably… Continue Reading

(Another) Landslide Victory: FINRA Enforcement Offers ZERO Evidence Of Fraud

By Chris Seps on October 8, 2015 Posted in Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Private Placement, Sanctions

At the end of last week, we received our second[1] decisive win in a FINRA Enforcement case in a matter of days. Following a two-day hearing back in July, the hearing Panel dismissed all charges against our clients Paul J. McIntyre and MSC-BD, LLC. While any victory is nice, and doing justice for a client… Continue Reading

Nobody’s Perfect (And Even FINRA Finally Acknowledged It)

By Heidi VonderHeide on October 2, 2015 Posted in Compliance, Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Statutory Disqualification

Fans of this blog (or, at least, readers of this blog who are fans of Jeopardy) will no doubt remember Alan’s prior post, published a few weeks ago, and discussing a recent case that FINRA’s Department of Enforcement brought against one of our clients. From the very beginning, we, as her counsel, were both bewildered… Continue Reading

If You’re a Respondent, Time is NOT on Your Side

By Alan Wolper on July 16, 2015 Posted in Arbitration, Defenses, Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Registered Representative, SEC

There was a decision this week from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on an appeal of a decision by a respondent who – stop the presses! – lost an SEC administrative proceeding, and then lost his appeal to the SEC. Montford and Company, Inc. v. SEC, No. 14-1126 (July 10, 2015). One of the… Continue Reading

FINRA’s Code Of Procedure: Unfair To The Gander

By Alan Wolper on June 18, 2015 Posted in Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Rule 8210

We have complained before in this blog about some of the obvious inequities associated with the FINRA Enforcement process that disfavor respondents. But I heard of a new one this week from a colleague, so I thought I would take the opportunity to revisit the issue. While there are several things problematic about the Code of… Continue Reading

To Mediate or Not: Arbitration v. Enforcement

By Chris Seps on May 29, 2015 Posted in Arbitration, Disciplinary Process, Enforcement, FINRA, Mediation, Settlements

I recently had two clients, both respondents in pending matters – ask me the same question in the same day: should I mediate this case? The answers I gave them differed dramatically, not just because the facts of each case were very different, but because one case was a customer arbitration, where we are defending… Continue Reading

Narrative Answers in Enforcement Proceedings: Practical, Yet Impossible

By Heidi VonderHeide on April 21, 2015 Posted in Enforcement, FINRA, Rule 8210

At a recent industry conference in New York, members of FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers gathered to discuss current issues and topics relevant to FINRA disciplinary hearings. During one of the sessions, a Hearing Officer panelist lamented the format of the Answers he typically receives from the respondents in his cases. Almost without exception, respondents… Continue Reading