In August 2013, FINRA announced that McAdams Wright Ragen, Inc. submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured, fined $30,000 and required to revise its Written Supervisory Procedures regarding the detection of excessive markups/markdowns, best execution violations and improper commissions charged. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to show the correct execution time on brokerage order memoranda, failed to show the correct order receipt time on the memoranda and incorrectly marked some orders as solicited when they were in fact unsolicited.
The findings stated that the firm’s supervisory system did not provide for supervision reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable securities laws, regulations and FINRA rules concerning the detection of excessive markups/markdowns, best execution violations and improper commissions charged. It is unclear from the FINRA announcement whether customers have initiated FINRA arbitrations or any other securities arbitrations. Any customer who believes that they may have paid excessive markups or markdowns can contact David A. Weintraub, P.A., 7805 SW 6th Court, Plantation, FL 33324. By phone: 954.693.7577 or 800.718.1422