FINRA fined and suspended former Wells Fargo Clearing Services (Carlsbad, CA) broker Annemarie Thomas aka Anne Marie Seeman for her role in facilitating a $100,000 wire transfer by falsely stating the customer had given written authorization when the customer was in fact out of the country at the time.
The report indicates that several weeks after a customer first inquired about wiring $100,000 on behalf of the customer's grandson, Thomas wrote an e-mail in which she claimed the customer was to "meet in parking lot for signature as she is running to an appointment."
FINRA found Thomas' statement was false and that Thomas knew her statement was not accurate because the customer was out of the country on the day Thomas wrote that she was to "meet in parking lot for signature" on the Letter of Authorization (LOA).
Nonetheless, based on Thomas' allegedly inaccurate statement, another Wells Fargo representative submitted a signed LOA for the $100,000 wire. According to the findings, when a firm supervisor questioned the LOA's authenticity, Thomas and her Wells Fargo coworker submitted a letter purportedly signed by the customer and, furthermore, participated in a phone call with the supervisor in which someone pretended to be the customer authorizing the wire request.
Investigators wrote that based on these non-genuine interactions—Thomas' real-world customer did not sign the LOA, nor the subsequent letter, nor did she take part in the phone call—the supervisor authorized the wire, with FINRA writing that Thomas "did not accept responsibility for her actions" when Wells Fargo attempted to investigate the incident.
Wells Fargo later discharged Thomas for "participating in the submission of a wire request purportedly signed by the client near the office on a day that the client indicated she was out of the country."
If you have invested with Annemarie Thomas or with any broker or financial adviser who has fabricated or forged your signature on an authorization form, such as LOA or another document requiring your signature, or whose impersonation of you during a phone call led to a situation where a harmful financial transaction was effected in your account without your consent, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for investigation and consultation.