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Guest Blogger Aegis Frumento discusses the unravelling of Alex Oh's dream job as the SEC Director of Enforcement. That dream started on April 22nd but by April 28th had turned into a nightmare. Within a week, Oh was in as Director and then Oh was out. As dream jobs go, it was a rude awakening.
In a recent FINRA expungement case, we come across a dispute in which a Vanguard Marketing Corporation customer insists that he sustained losses after he had asked for a portfolio reallocation that wasn't performed. Except three independent arbitrators found otherwise. They said the customer hadn't asked, and, even if he did, those alleged losses weren't even losses. That's as dramatic a rebuke as you could imagine. But what the hell is with the firm's telephone system?
As readers of the BrokeAndBroker.com Blog know, our publisher Bill Singer is a frequent critic of many FINRA Regulatory Notices, which unwisely divert the focus of industry compliance staff from serious tasks and this stress has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. Perhaps in response to some of Bill's recent complaints, FINRA just published the truly helpful "Cybersecurity / FINRA Shares Practices Firms Use to Protect Customers From Online Account Takeover Attempts" (FINRA Regulatory Notice 21-18 / May 12, 2021).