SEC Bars Financial Advisor for Securities Trading Scheme
From the desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has barred financial advisor Andrew Komarow from the securities industry, following a similar bar by FINRA. Komarow accepted the SEC settlement without admitting to or denying the SEC's findings.
According to InvestmentNews, Komarow is known for his Connecticut-based practice focusing on special needs and autism. He was found to have been involved in a "free-riding" securities trading scheme from October 2022 to January 2023, according to the SEC settlement.
"Free-riding" involves traders exploiting the "immediate access" credit provided by certain broker-dealers before cash deposits from bank accounts are received. The SEC discovered that Komarow initiated "unfunded automated clearing house transfers of money totaling $6.9 million from multiple bank accounts to accounts at broker-dealers and engaged in speculative trading with the resulting credits before the transfers were canceled for insufficient funds."
Although Komarow's trading activities did not yield significant profits at each broker-dealer, he withdrew funds from two accounts where he had engaged in free-riding. As per the SEC's findings, this led to losses exceeding $3 million for the broker-dealers, while Komarow personally profited at least $615,031.
Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, transition, regulatory, and disciplinary matters.
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