Post by jannikki on Apr 27, 2006 22:23:22 GMT -4
NASD Suspends Broker For 90 Days, Imposes Fine and Disgorgement Totalling $400,000 for Short Sale Violations
Broker Deceived Firm by Executing Short Sales, Marked Long, in Personal Accounts
WASHINGTON, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- NASD announced today that Steven
W. Norin, a broker who is currently registered with Citigroup Global
Markets Inc. of New York, has been suspended for 90 days and will pay
$400,000 to settle charges that he engaged in a pattern of improper short
sales in his personal accounts.
NASD found that from March 2003 through November 2004, Norin executed
100 short sales in 22 different securities and improperly marked them as
"long." NASD found that Norin wanted to sell certain securities in his
personal accounts short because he believed they were overpriced; when he
discovered that there was no available inventory or borrowable stock, he
improperly marked the orders long in the firm's order entry system to
defeat the system's ability to prevent improper short sales.
NASD determined that in 70 of the improper short sales, Norin made
profits totaling $298,547. In the other 30 sales Norin lost money, for a
net loss of $2,788 over the course of the 20-month period of misconduct.
NASD is requiring Norin to disgorge the profits he derived from the
profitable improper short sales and to pay, in addition, a fine of over
$100,000.
In settling this matter, Norin neither admitted or denied the charges,
but consented to the entry of NASD's findings that in the 100 instances he
improperly marked short sales long, he failed to determine affirmatively
that there was stock available to fill the orders, caused his firm to fail
to report the transactions to the Nasdaq Market Center with the required
short sale modifier, and intentionally circumvented the locate requirements
of his firm's trading systems to avoid detection.
Investors can obtain more information about, and the disciplinary
record of, any NASD-registered broker or brokerage firm by using NASD's
BrokerCheck. NASD makes BrokerCheck available at no charge to the public.
In 2005, members of the public used this service to conduct more than 4.3
million searches for existing brokers or firms and requested more than
194,000 reports in cases where disclosable information existed on a broker
or firm. Investors can link directly to BrokerCheck at
www.nasdbrokercheck.com. Investors can also access this service by
calling 1-800-289-9999.
NASD is the leading private-sector provider of financial regulatory
services, dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through
effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and
technology-based services. NASD touches virtually every aspect of the
securities business -- from registering and educating all industry
participants, to examining securities firms, enforcing both NASD rules and
the federal securities laws, and administering the largest dispute
resolution forum for investors and registered firms. For more information,
please visit our Web Site at www.nasd.com.
SOURCE NASD
Web Site: www.nasd.com
www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-26-2006/0004348317&EDATE=
Broker Deceived Firm by Executing Short Sales, Marked Long, in Personal Accounts
WASHINGTON, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- NASD announced today that Steven
W. Norin, a broker who is currently registered with Citigroup Global
Markets Inc. of New York, has been suspended for 90 days and will pay
$400,000 to settle charges that he engaged in a pattern of improper short
sales in his personal accounts.
NASD found that from March 2003 through November 2004, Norin executed
100 short sales in 22 different securities and improperly marked them as
"long." NASD found that Norin wanted to sell certain securities in his
personal accounts short because he believed they were overpriced; when he
discovered that there was no available inventory or borrowable stock, he
improperly marked the orders long in the firm's order entry system to
defeat the system's ability to prevent improper short sales.
NASD determined that in 70 of the improper short sales, Norin made
profits totaling $298,547. In the other 30 sales Norin lost money, for a
net loss of $2,788 over the course of the 20-month period of misconduct.
NASD is requiring Norin to disgorge the profits he derived from the
profitable improper short sales and to pay, in addition, a fine of over
$100,000.
In settling this matter, Norin neither admitted or denied the charges,
but consented to the entry of NASD's findings that in the 100 instances he
improperly marked short sales long, he failed to determine affirmatively
that there was stock available to fill the orders, caused his firm to fail
to report the transactions to the Nasdaq Market Center with the required
short sale modifier, and intentionally circumvented the locate requirements
of his firm's trading systems to avoid detection.
Investors can obtain more information about, and the disciplinary
record of, any NASD-registered broker or brokerage firm by using NASD's
BrokerCheck. NASD makes BrokerCheck available at no charge to the public.
In 2005, members of the public used this service to conduct more than 4.3
million searches for existing brokers or firms and requested more than
194,000 reports in cases where disclosable information existed on a broker
or firm. Investors can link directly to BrokerCheck at
www.nasdbrokercheck.com. Investors can also access this service by
calling 1-800-289-9999.
NASD is the leading private-sector provider of financial regulatory
services, dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through
effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and
technology-based services. NASD touches virtually every aspect of the
securities business -- from registering and educating all industry
participants, to examining securities firms, enforcing both NASD rules and
the federal securities laws, and administering the largest dispute
resolution forum for investors and registered firms. For more information,
please visit our Web Site at www.nasd.com.
SOURCE NASD
Web Site: www.nasd.com
www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-26-2006/0004348317&EDATE=