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July 24, 2020 at 03:24 PM
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Thursday provided yet another reminder of the perils of cheating on an industry exam, filing a complaint against a former Houlihan Lokey financial analyst who the regulator said was caught cheating while taking the Series 79 Investment Banking Representative Exam.
FINRA’s Department of Enforcement sought a disciplinary proceeding by the FINRA Office of Hearing Officers to consider sanctions against Travis Scott Hughes, who started working in Houlihan Lokey’s financial restructuring group in June 2019, according to the complaint.
Hughes’ offer of employment required him to pass the Series 79 exam within four months of his start date, FINRA noted. On July 3, 2019, Hughes submitted a Form U4 to become registered through the firm, according to FINRA.
However, “Hughes took but did not pass the Series 79 exam in August and September 2019, each time receiving a score of 61,” according to the complaint.
So he scheduled an appointment to take the exam a third time at a test center in Houston on Oct. 11, 2019. On the day of the exam , “prior to arriving at the test center, Hughes hid personal notes in his shorts,” FINRA claimed, adding: “During the exam, Hughes removed the notes and repeatedly reviewed them” despite the fact that he had agreed to follow FINRA’s Qualification Examinations Rules of Conduct for the exam, which “prominently forbade possessing or using notes and study materials” while taking the qualification exam.
“Shortly after beginning the exam, Hughes removed two sheets of paper — one from each leg of his shorts — and hid them under the dry-erase boards on his desk,” FINRA alleged in the complaint,” adding: “One sheet contained handwritten notes of formulas, valuation metrics, and ratios. The other sheet was a printed ‘cheat-sheet’ or ‘quick reference guide’ of SEC rules and regulations. Both contained information that was relevant to the Series 79 exam. For approximately the first 50 minutes of the exam, Hughes repeatedly reviewed both sheets of paper.”
