Bryce J. Vance (CRD #6499644, Caldwell, Idaho)
November 1, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Vance was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Vance consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he falsified insurance applications by submitting unauthorized insurance applications on behalf of customers. The findings stated that Vance collected the customer-specific information by offering free insurance quotes and used the information to submit insurance applications to his member firm’s affiliate insurance company without the customers’ consent. In submitting the applications, Vance falsely indicated that the customers had authorized the submission of the applications and consented to the issuance of the insurance policies. After Vance submitted the applications, the customers were issued policies by the insurance company and received bills for the policies. For these policies, Vance received commissions of $5,550.51, all of which was clawed back by the insurance company. (FINRA Case #2018057094902)
Andrew Patrick Yoro (CRD #6870944, Arlington, Texas)
November 1, 2019 – An OHO decision became final in which Yoro was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. The sanction was based on findings that Yoro cheated on the Series 7 examination. The findings stated that before he took the exam, Yoro had attested that he had read and agreed to abide by FINRA’s Test Center Rules of Conduct that prohibit the use or attempted use of any study materials during the exam session. Yoro also agreed not to use any personal items, including study materials, during the exam and not to access the locker provided to him for his personal items during any unscheduled break in the exam. However, during the exam sessions, Yoro took three unscheduled breaks, which he used to consult his study guide. After consulting the study guide, Yoro reviewed previously answered questions from the exam, and changed several incorrect answers to correct answers. (FINRA Case #2018056934901)
Daniel Karol Boyle (CRD #5980470, Newtown, Pennsylvania)
November 5, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Boyle was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Boyle consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to provide information or documents requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into allegations that he converted assets from his member firm by depositing a check for over $7,000 payable to the firm into his personal bank account. The findings stated that Boyle later returned the funds to the firm. (FINRA Case #2019063328201)
Ma Rosa Linan Abrego (CRD #6122105, Dallas, Texas)
November 6, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Linan Abrego was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Linan Abrego consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that she refused to appear for on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into whether she engaged in misappropriation. (FINRA Case #2019063173201)
Gregory Charles Voetsch (CRD #1223244, New York, New York)
November 6, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Voetsch was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Voetsch consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to appear for on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA during the course of an investigation into the details of a Uniform Termination Notice for Securities Industry Registration (Form U5) amendment submitted by his former member firm. The findings stated that the Form U5 disclosed that an investment-related, consumer-initiated arbitration had been filed against him. The arbitration was later withdrawn. (FINRA Case #2018060416901)
Philip Joseph Sparacino (CRD #3243960, Staten Island, New York)
November 11, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Sparacino was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Sparacino consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to produce information and documents requested by FINRA while it was investigating allegations that he engaged in unauthorized, excessive and unsuitable trading while registered through his member firm. (FINRA Case #2019063631801)
Jun Zhou (CRD #2825595, Chicago, Illinois)
November 11, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Zhou was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Zhou consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that she participated in private securities transactions with sales of $16,050,000, and selling compensation of $199,000, without providing written notice to, or receiving approval from, her member firm. The findings stated that Zhou, both individually and through a small real estate company she wholly owned and controlled, participated in the sale of membership interests in private real estate funds managed by a third party and in a promissory note with that third-party fund manager. The fund membership interests and the promissory note were securities. In addition, Zhou formed a private real estate fund managed by Zhou’s real estate company. Zhou subsequently filed, on behalf of the fund, a notice of exempt offering of securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to transactions through which Zhou and her real estate company sold membership interests in the fund to investors, including firm customers. In connection with these transactions, Zhou’s real estate company received from the fund a sourcing fee and a quarterly asset management fee. (FINRA Case #2018059391501)
Lance Roman Armstrong (CRD #4592423, Lafayette, New Jersey)
November 12, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Armstrong was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Armstrong consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to appear for on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation of his activities. The findings stated that Armstrong’s member firm filed a Form U5 disclosing that it had discharged him after he solicited and accepted multiple loans from customers in connection with an undisclosed outside business activity. (FINRA Case #2019061580601)
Clint H. Keener (CRD #2250146, Sunbury, Ohio)
November 12, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Keener was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Keener consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to appear for FINRA on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with an investigation into potential unsuitable recommendations made by him. (FINRA Case #2015048347901)
Julie Ann Mineard (CRD #3230787, Renton, Washington)
November 15, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Mineard was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Mineard consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that she converted and improperly used approximately $24,044 that she obtained from a co-worker’s brokerage account held at their member firm. The findings stated that Mineard routinely assisted the co-worker in paying his personal bills by making check requests for disbursements from the co-worker’s brokerage account. Mineard inputted requests into the firm’s online check request system to direct disbursements of the funds from the co-worker’s account to Mineard’s personal bank accounts. The check requests were made without the co-worker’s prior knowledge or authorization. Mineard subsequently used these funds for her personal expenses. (FINRA Case #2017056673501)
Linda Almeida Jay (CRD #4633853, Sayreville, New Jersey)
November 19, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Jay was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Jay consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that she refused to appear for on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into whether she submitted certain falsified documents to her member firm, as alleged in a Form U5 filed by the firm. (FINRA Case #2018060602301)
Clark Morris Nobil (CRD #348552, Miami Beach, Florida)
November 19, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Nobil was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Nobil consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to produce information and documents requested by FINRA after it began an examination regarding his appointment as trustee of two trusts to determine whether he had engaged in a business activity that should have been disclosed on his Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer (Form U4) or had otherwise acted in violation of FINRA rules. The findings stated that although Nobil provided partial responses to FINRA’s requests, he did not substantially comply with its requests, and the information and documents he failed to provide, including specific bank statements and tax returns, were material to FINRA’s investigation. (FINRA Case #2019062569401)
Gerald Allan Eaton (CRD #2279093, Acton, Massachusetts)
November 20, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Eaton was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Eaton consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to provide documents and information requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation that began after learning of the conduct disclosed in a Form U5 submitted by his member firm. The findings stated that in the Form U5, Eaton’s firm stated that the reason for the termination was that he fraudulently facilitated distributions from the accounts of clients without their knowledge or consent or for their benefit. (FINRA Case #2019064468601)
Joseph Viet Duy Phan (CRD #2555300, Fountain Valley, California)
November 20, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Phan was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Phan consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he failed to appear and provide on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into allegations that he borrowed money from clients of his member firm without firm approval, and attempted to deposit a client’s check into his personal bank account. (FINRA Case #2018060408801)
Dennis Masaaki Nakamura (CRD #819626, Moraga, California)
November 21, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Nakamura was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Nakamura consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to appear and provide on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into whether he violated FINRA rules by making unsuitable investment recommendations to customers while associated with a member firm. (FINRA Case #2018058820101)
Matthew Leon White (CRD #5365185, Little Rock, Arizona)
November 21, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which White was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, White consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to appear for on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA in connection with an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his termination from his member firm. The findings stated that the firm filed a Form U5 disclosing that it had discharged White for failing to adequately disclose outside activities including his relationship to company business. (FINRA Case #2018058815501)
Robert Frederick Genito (CRD #4760338, Sarasota, Florida)
November 22, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Genito was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Genito consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to appear for on-the-record testimony requested by FINRA after it began an investigation following receipt of a Form U5 filed by his member firm. The findings stated that the Form U5 indicated that the firm terminated Genito’s registration because it discovered that he was involved in an undisclosed outside business activity or private securities transaction. (FINRA Case #2019061049701)
Michael Radford Severance (CRD #1023971, Loretto, Minnesota)
November 25, 2019 – An AWC was issued in which Severance was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Severance consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to produce documents and information requested by FINRA. The findings stated that Severance’s member firm had filed a Form U5 terminating his association with it after the firm discovered that without notifying it or obtaining its approval, he had provided bill-paying services to a firm customer, for compensation, and that the customer had given a monetary gift to Severance’s son in excess of $100. (FINRA Case #2019061052201)
