What You Need to Know
- The individual placed 77 unauthorized trades involving $500,000 in securities, which led to losses of some $19,200, according to FINRA.
- While still a broker, he also falsely claimed in a questionnaire that he hadn't serviced any accounts on a discretionary basis.
- A firm terminated the broker's registration in 2019, and he is not associated with any FINRA member today.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority recently fined a former registered representative $7,500 because he allegedly continued to trade in a client’s account at the broker’s prior firm even after that client had died.
Without admitting or denying the findings of FINRA’s investigation, Ignacio Erhart Del Campo signed a FINRA letter of acceptance, waiver and consent March 18. In the letter, he consented to the imposition of FINRA’s sanctions, which included a suspension from associating with any FINRA member firms for two months and restitution of about $19,200 plus interest.
FINRA signed the letter Wednesday.
However, the individual is no longer registered as a broker, according to his report at FINRA’s BrokerCheck website. This means the suspension can only be enforced if he becomes registered once again; also, FINRA can’t force him to pay any fine or restitution unless he decides to become a registered rep again.
Erhart Del Campo first registered with FINRA in September 2013 as a general securities rep with Northeast Securities. On July 31, 2017, he became registered with Insigneo Securities after that firm acquired Northeast, according to the regulatory group.
On Sept. 26, 2019, Insigneo terminated Erhart Del Campo’s registration because he “failed to follow firm procedures with regards to placing trades in a client account,” according to a disclosure on his BrokerCheck report.
“Trades were marked solicited in a deceased client’s account for an extended period of time,” the disclosure went on to say.
From Sept. 27, 2019 until October 21, 2019, Erhart Del Campo was registered with FINRA as a rep for Epic Capital Securities. It was not immediately clear why he left Epic.
Erhart Del Campo could not be reached for comment on Monday, and there was no attorney representing him noted on the AWC letter. Insigneo and Epic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
More Details of the Case
From Nov. 1, 2013 to June 4, 2017, while associated with Northeast Securities, Erhart Del Campo exercised discretion in a customer’s account without written authorization, according to FINRA.