Jacob Karamian of Glendale, CA, formerly of Washington Mutual Financial Services

Jacob Karamian was given a lifetime bar from FINRA in July 2009, in which he was prohibited from associating with any member firm or broker in any capacity. According to FINRA, Karamian in March 2007 caused a customer to wire transfer $281,768 to a third-party account, though the customer had never given consent.
 
Around $261,000 of these funds was then channeled to a private account controlled by Karamian after a series of transactions, which federal authorities believe defrauded the Federal Wire Fund. FINRA’s full disciplinary report on Karamian details how the broker manipulated this client into signing the authorization of the transfer, changed the address of record for the brokerage, and then faxed the form back to the firm.
 
Karamian was also discharged from Washington Mutual Financial Services in Montrose, California, following several customer complaints. In addition to the complaint that led to FINRA’s latest decision, Karamin settled with a former client at Washington Mutual in January 2008 for $72,500, after it was alleged Karamin recommended inappropriate investments.
 
Karamian was employed at Crowell, Weeden and Co. after leaving Washington Mutual, and was discharged in November 2008 following FINRA’s allegations. Prior to Washington Mutual, Karamian was a registered representative for Morgan Stanley Inc. in Glendale, California, from June 2003 to November 2005.
 
We are currently investigating Mr. Karamian. If you or an organization have entrusted your money to Mr. Karamian, we would like to hear from you.
 
FURTHER READING
 
In July 2009, Jacob Karamian was terminated from his most recent employer, after numerous customer complaints and alleged rule violations. FINRA issued the following report regarding prior disciplinary actions related to Jacob Karamian:
 
Jacob Karamian (CRD #4682429, Registered Representative, Glendale, California) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Karamian consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he changed the address of record for a customer’s brokerage account to the branch address of the firm office where he worked without the customer’s knowledge, authorization and consent. The findings stated that Karamian sent, via facsimile, a letter of authorization to his member firm’s cashiering department requesting a wire transfer of $281,768 from the customer’s brokerage account to a third party escrow account at a bank without the customer’s knowledge, authorization and consent. The findings also stated that Karamian had the customer sign the letter of authorization for the withdrawal of these funds, knowing that the customer had not read the letter and did not knowingly authorize or consent to the request to transfer funds out of his account. The findings also included that through a series of financial transactions, Karamian caused $261,000 of the funds transferred to be deposited into a bank account he controlled and the customer had not authorized the transfer. (FINRA Case #2007010029301)