BROWSE BY TOPIC
- Bad Brokers
- Compliance Concepts
- Investor Protection
- Investments - Unsuitable
- Investments - Strategies
- Investments - Private
- Features/Scandals
- Companies
- Technology/Internet
- Rules & Regulations
- Crimes
- Investments
- Bad Advisors
- Boiler Rooms
- Hirings/Transitions
- Terminations/Cost Cutting
- Regulators
- Wall Street News
- General News
- Donald Trump & Co.
- Lawsuits/Arbitrations
- Regulatory Sanctions
- Big Banks
- People
TRENDING TAGS
Stories of Interest
- Sarah ten Siethoff is New Associate Director of SEC Investment Management Rulemaking Office
- Catherine Keating Appointed CEO of BNY Mellon Wealth Management
- Credit Suisse to Pay $47Mn to Resolve DOJ Asia Probe
- SEC Chair Clayton Goes 'Hat in Hand' Before Congress on 2019 Budget Request
- SEC's Opening Remarks to the Elder Justice Coordinating Council
- Massachusetts Jury Convicts CA Attorney of Securities Fraud
- Deutsche Bank Says 3 Senior Investment Bankers to Leave Firm
- World’s Biggest Hedge Fund Reportedly ‘Bearish On Financial Assets’
- SEC Fines Constant Contact, Popular Email Marketer, for Overstating Subscriber Numbers
- SocGen Agrees to Pay $1.3 Billion to End Libya, Libor Probes
- Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitfinex Briefly Halts Trading After Cyber Attack
- SEC Names Valerie Szczepanik Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation
- SEC Modernizes Delivery of Fund Reports, Seeks Public Feedback on Improving Fund Disclosure
- NYSE Says SEC Plan to Limit Exchange Rebates Would Hurt Investors
- Deutsche Bank faces another challenge with Fed stress test
- Former JPMorgan Broker Files racial discrimination suit against company
- $3.3Mn Winning Bid for Lunch with Warren Buffett
- Julie Erhardt is SEC's New Acting Chief Risk Officer
- Chyhe Becker is SEC's New Acting Chief Economist, Acting Director of Economic and Risk Analysis Division
- Getting a Handle on Virtual Currencies - FINRA
ABOUT FINANCIALISH
We seek to provide information, insights and direction that may enable the Financial Community to effectively and efficiently operate in a regulatory risk-free environment by curating content from all over the web.
Stay Informed with the latest fanancialish news.
SUBSCRIBE FOR
NEWSLETTERS & ALERTS
FOLLOW US
WWW - Wells Lets Broker Churn Elder's Accounts for 6 Years; On 7th Year They Rested
[Photo: by DullHunk (Duncan Hull) / Flickr]
Matthew Maczko of Downers Grove, IL, agreed to be barred from the industry to settle FINRA charges that he engaged in excessive trading in an elderly customer’s accounts. Maczko then compounded the matter by providing inaccurate and misleading testimony to FINRA.
BACKGROUND. Maczko entered the securities industry in I988. In 2008, he joined Wells Fargo Advisors and worked there until September 2016, when he was U-5’d over the firm’s concerns about his level of trading in a customer account.
FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES. According to FINRA, between January 2009 and April 2016, Maczko engaged in excessive trading in 4 accounts of a senior customer, aged 93. Maczko effectively controlled these accounts, which had an average aggregate value of $3 million. During this 7-year period, Maczko effected over 2800 transactions in these accounts, generating nearly $1.1 million in commissions ($581,000), fees ($84,000), and trading losses ($397,000).
Subsequent to his termination from WFA on 9/2/16, Maczko met on 9/28/16 with FINRA staff during on-the-record testimony in violation. During that meeting, Maczko provided inaccurate and misleading testimony to FINRA. He testified that he had not spoken with 2 customers since his termination earlier that month, when in fact his telephone records revealed that he had spoken with these customers several times.
FINANCIALISH COMMENTS. When Maczko was terminated in 2016, WFA cited that he was "under internal review for adherence to industry standards of conduct based on concerns about the level of trading in a customer account." While it's commendable that the firm - and not FINRA - had apparentlly recognized Maczko's violative actions, the basic question is why it took 6 years to reach this point? [Perhaps Maczko was retained because he was a superstar at marketing Wells Fargo's services to his customers - e.g., bank and credit card accounts.]
This case was reported in FINRA Disciplinary Actions for April 2017.
For details on this case, go to … FINRA Disciplinary Actions Online, and refer to Case #2016050430201.
