FINRA bars broker for defrauding elderly client

(Reuters) – The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said on Thursday that a hearing panel barred broker Hank Mark Werner of Northport, New York, for defrauding an elderly blind woman.

FINRA registered a complaint against the New York-based broker last year after Werner was found defrauding the woman by aggressively trading on her account after her husband died in 2012, making more than 700 trades on 200 securities over a three-year period. (http://reut.rs/2iK6vpZ)

Werner had been the elderly widow’s and her late husband’s broker since 1995.

The trades generated about $210,000 in commissions while the customer lost more than $175,000 as a result of Werner’s “reckless trading”.

The hearing panel ordered the broker to pay more than $155,000 in restitution to the widow, fined him $80,000 and ordered Werner to give up illegally obtained profits of more than $10,000.

Werner could not be immediately reached for comments.

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