Industry regulators have suspended and fined an Oklahoma financial advisor for impersonating clients in phone calls to a previous employer to facilitate the transfer of their funds.
Chad M. Rogers, discharged from IFP Securities in 2023 over the calls, had received clients' consent to have their funds transferred but not to his impersonating them, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said in a settlement letter that the agency signed Tuesday.
Rogers agreed to a 45-day suspension and $5,000 fine from FINRA, without admitting or denying the authority's findings. The Oklahoma Department of Securities last year suspended his registration with the state for nine months and imposed a $5,000 fine in connection with the same activities.
In September 2023, IFP notified FINRA that it had discharged Rogers after a third party notified the firm that the advisor had impersonated clients with personal information via phone calls, according to FINRA. He had joined IFP in June 2022.
"Between August 2022 and June 2023, while associated with IFP, Rogers impersonated 14 customers on 22 telephone calls to his prior firm. Rogers impersonated the customers to facilitate the transfer of their accounts to IFP or, in some instances, to transfer funds to their bank accounts. Although the customers consented to transferring their accounts or funds, none of the customers gave Rogers permission to impersonate them during these calls," the letter states.
"NO CLIENTS WERE DISADVANTAGED OR HARMED IN ANY WAY AS A CONSEQUENCE OF MY ACTIONS, AND IN OVER 22 YEARS IN THE INDUSTRY I HAVE NEVER RECEIVED A CUSTOMER COMPLAINT," Rogers said in response to the allegations, his FINRA BrokerCheck record shows.
He explained in his response that after joining IFP, several longtime clients notified him that they were having difficulty with his prior firm in obtaining information necessary to make certain transactions or move their accounts to IFP, and they authorized him to contact that firm on their behalf. He phoned his old firm to help the clients but acknowledged that by impersonating them, he violated IFP policy and FINRA and Oklahoma rules.
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