by Howard Haykin

Fortunately, investors have access to a history of financial events for each and every broker. That information, along with their qualifications and employment history, is available to the public on FINRA's Brokercheck. 

EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN’T, ... which is to say that some broker-dealers fail to post such information about their brokers and registered personnel to Brokercheck - or they do so months too late. For example, First Financial Equity Corporation, which is based in Scottsdale, AZ, allegedly failed to post to Brokercheck “71 outstanding liens, outstanding judgments, bankruptcies and creditor comprises in a timely fashion or, in some cases, at all” for 20 of its 165 brokers. Sixty-eight of those disclosures consisted of outstanding judgments and outstanding liens totaling $1.4 million.

Turned out the Chief Compliance Officer was at fault for not updating Brokercheck, while the firm was faulted for not adequately supervising the CCO; they didn't monitor whether she fulfilled her responsibilities.

INVESTOR PROTECTION.    Yet, this case study is not an indictment against First Financial Equity Corporation which … (i) prior to these incidents, had not been cited for any similar violations; and, (ii) since entering the securities business in 1985, had maintained a relatively clean disciplinary history.

[For further details, click on … FINRA Case #2017055723502.]