The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has barred a former Raymond James representative for refusing to testify about allegations that he placed unauthorized trades in his wife's IRA and signed her name to move cash from the account.
According to FINRA's order, William Steven Cooke was registered as a general securities rep with Raymond James from March 2022 to Dec. 19, 2024. Raymond James filed a Form U5 on that date, stating that Cooke was discharged because he "entered [two] unauthorized trades in his wife's IRA account and then signed her name to [two] documents to move the cash from the IRA to a joint account." He repaid the sums.
Cooke's BrokerCheck profile states that the complaint came from his wife, and that she requested $72,157 in damages. The settlement amount was $79,221.
On March 19, in connection with its investigation, FINRA sent a request to Cooke for on-the-record testimony pursuant to FINRA Rule 8210. On March 20, Cooke sent an email refusing to appear.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.