In November 2009, Joseph Wilbur Richard Ashwill was suspended for five months by the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency for violating broker ethical conduct rules. The Registered Supervisor, who is currently employed by Wedbush Morgan Securities in Newport Beach, California, had allegedly altered official financial documents to conceal that he was the beneficiary of an account.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro sent a letter to the Chief Executive Officers of every major broker-dealer firm in the United States in August 2009, warning supervisors to be particularly vigilant in ensuring that their brokers do not receive unfair compensation for certain sales practices. According to SEC rules, certain forms of broker compensation, as well as other conflicts of interest, can create enhanced risks for customers.
In FINRA’s full disciplinary report on the broker, Ashwiill withheld from his Wedbush Morgan that he was beneficiary of a customer, though he was required to do so. Ashwill then allegedly misrepresented the facts of his customer relationship when contacted by FINRA. Ashwill is prohibited from coming into contact with any FINRA member of firm during his suspension, and is ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
We are currently investigating Mr. Ashwill. If you or an organization with which you are affiliated have entrusted your money to Mr. Ashwill, we would like to hear from you.
FURTHER READING:
In September 2009, FINRA announced they had suspended registered supervisor Joseph Wilbur Richard Ashwill from associating with any member firm in any capacity for five months. FINRA issued the following report related to Ashwill:
Joseph Wilbur Richard Ashwill (CRD #8189, Registered Supervisor, Long Beach, California) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for five months. Without admitting or denying the findings, Ashwill consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he altered a customer’s trust document to conceal that he was one of the customer’s designated beneficiaries and then submitted the required document to his member firm. The findings stated that Ashwill made material misstatements on his firm’s annual compliance questionnaire by failing to disclose that he received gifts from the customer. The suspension is in effect from November 2, 2009, through April 1, 2010. (FINRA Case #2007009443301)
