In February 2014, FINRA announced that Jefferies LLC submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $50,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it employed a statutorily disqualified individual in a non-registered capacity and permitted the individual to remain associated with the firm for eight years.
The findings stated that the individual was statutorily disqualified at the time of his hire and remained so throughout his employment with the firm. The individual failed to disclose his statutory disqualification to the firm, and the firm’s initial review of the individual’s background was incomplete and did not reveal that the individual had been barred and therefore was statutorily disqualified from associating with the firm in any capacity. The individual remained associated with the firm in a non-registered capacity until the firm terminated his employment after becoming aware that he was statutorily disqualified in connection with its review of operations professionals for the then newly established FINRA Series 99.