Wisconsin Financial Advisor Suspended and Fined for Unauthorized Transactions
From the desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law
FINRA has suspended and fined Wisconsin financial advisor John E. Pelletier after he executed 16 unauthorized transactions, allowing a client's ex-wife to nearly deplete his individual retirement account (IRA). As reported by ThinkAdvisor, Pelletier, a senior financial advisor with BMO Investment Services, received a three-month suspension and a $10,000 fine.
The client discovered the unauthorized transactions when his electricity was cut off. His ex-wife, who lived with him and handled the household bills, had taken the money but failed to pay the electric bill for months. This situation led the client to uncover that his IRA had been almost entirely drained without his knowledge.
FINRA's hearing office determined that Pelletier enabled distributions at the direction of DP’s ex-wife, who was not an authorized agent on the account.
Despite Pelletier's claim that the client had given oral authorization for his ex-wife to direct trades, the panel found no evidence supporting this claim.ThinkAdvisor also reports that Pelletier’s actions violated BMO Investment Services’ written policies, which explicitly warned against accepting orders from an account owner’s spouse.
Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, transition, regulatory, and disciplinary matters.
Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, finra
