FINRA barred former Wells Fargo wealth advisor of stealing $1.3 million from mostly elderly customers, finding that Busch was able to misappropriate the money by manipulating customer bank accounts.
According to the findings, prior to 2009, Busch submitted paper debit memos to his own credit card company for the purpose of authorizing payments from customer bank accounts to Busch's personal credit card account. In order to generate the cash, Busch occasionally also liquidated securities from the customers' brokerage accounts before transferring funds from the brokerage accounts to the customers' bank accounts.
Once all funds were in place in the bank accounts, Busch misappropriated them using the manual debit memo authorizations, which FINRA found were conducted without the consent, knowledge or permission of the customers whose bank accounts were depleted.
Between 2009 and 2013, according to FINRA, Busch upgraded the technology of his misappropriation scheme, using his credit card company's automated system to request payment from customer bank accounts to Busch's personal credit card account.
In all instances, Busch was allegedly able to effect this illicit transactions by providing customer bank routing and account numbers to his credit card companies, information FINRA states would have been accessible to Busch due to the nature of his wealth advisor position at Wells Fargo.
The investigation states that most of Busch's alleged victims were elderly women.
If you have invested with James Arnold Busch, Wells Fargo or with any wealth advisors, brokers or bankers who you suspect have improperly used your bank or brokerage account information in order to misappropriate funds without your knowledge or consent and for a loss to your investments or interests, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.
News: FINRA Accuses Ex-Wells Fargo Broker of Stealing $1.3M From Customers (NASDAQ)