Outside FINRA headquarters in New York. (Photo: Shutterstock)
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority suspended an ex-Wells Fargo broker for six months and fined him $10,000 for allegedly altering documents and using his own personal email address for business activities.
Without admitting or denying the findings, Robert Patton Stansberry signed a letter of acceptance, waiver and consent on July 6 in which he agreed to FINRA's sanctions. FINRA accepted the letter Thursday.
Stansberry was associated with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, its independent channel, from May 2017 to August 2018. Wells Fargo FiNet filed a Form U5 Uniform Termination Notice discharging him for the infractions cited by FINRA in the fall of 2018.
Stansberry then became associated as a broker with Cutter & Company, from August 2018 to November 2019. That firm filed a Form U5 terminating his registration in late 2019.
Wells Fargo and Cutter did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. Braden Perry, a partner at the law firm Kennyhertz Perry, which represented Stansberry, declined to comment.
Troubling Activities
"On at least 24 occasions from February 2018 to July 2018, Stansberry instructed 16 … customers to sign incomplete documents and return them to him, with the customers' understanding that Stansberry would fill in the missing information … consistent with their instructions, but without further verification," FINRA also alleged.
