FINRA barred broker Stephanie Ann Becker (nee Templeton) for converting $14,100 in customer funds while associated with J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC and a bank affiliate of the firm.
According to FINRA'S findings, while dually employed as a personal banker and also associated with JP Morgan Securities, Becker transferred the customers' funds into a personal friend's bank account. FINRA charged that Becker then used the funds for her own personal expenses and benefit.
The violative conduct allegedly occurred between December 2012 and February 2013 when Becker engaged in a series of two transactions, withdrawing $4,500 from one client's account before withdrawing $9,600 from a second customer's account several months later.
The investigation states that both withdrawals came courtesy of a withdrawal ticket against each client's credit lines and were made without either customer's consent or authorization.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon received a 74% raise, to $20 million, for 2013. Bloomberg points out that Dimon's massive raise came during a year in which JPMorgan Chase set an industry record for regulatory fines it was ordered to pay by FINRA, the SEC and other regulators.
JPMorgan agreed to pay $23 billion in regulatory and criminal settlements in 2013, including approximately $1 billion related to the $6.2 billion London Whale trading fiasco. At the time, Dimon said the massive trading loss was the result of a "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored" trading strategy.
In agreeing to settle a series of charges and suits, JPMorgan Chase admitted it broke multiple securities laws in connection with London Whale.
If you have invested with Stephanie Ann Becker, JP Morgan Securities, JPMorgan Chase or with any broker or firm whose malicious and improper actions or failure to supervise have generated losses or otherwise proven harmful to your investments, positions or interests, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for investigation and consultation.