FINRA barred former Wells Fargo Clearing Services (Scottsdale, AZ) broker Scott Wayne Reed for participating in $3.5 million-worth of private securities transactions away from and without providing proper notice to Wells Fargo.
According to AWC #2020066246901, Scott Reed (CRD #3007033) solicited several individuals and Wells Fargo customers to invest in securities issued by a tech company based in Pasadena, California that were designed to raise capital for ongoing software and web development operations.
In one case, Reed offered to personally guarantee half of an individual's investment, according to FINRA's report, receiving selling compensation in excess of $191,000 for his role in soliciting and facilitating the investments.
Wells Fargo had not approved the transactions conducted away from the firm, and in April 2020 Reed resigned from the firm while under investigation for recommending and facilitating investments away from and not offered by Wells Fargo Advisors.
On the very same day of his voluntary resignation disclosure, Reed joined a new firm, First Financial Equity Corporation, also of Scottsdale, Arizona.
A pending customer dispute in Reed's file lists damages of $300,000 and has a listed allegation of, "The customers claim Mr. Reed recommended unsuitable investments and did not diversify their retirement portfolio." Despite the text of this allegation, Reed's broker comment to the dispute states, "I am not named in the complaint at all."
If you have invested with former Wells Fargo Advisors and Wells Fargo Clearing Services broker Scott Wayne Reed or with any financial adviser or registered representative who improperly solicited private securities transactions without firm permission, and this unauthorized selling away activity has proven harmful to your investments or interests, please call an experienced FINRA arbitration attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.