The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined a former LPL rep $5,000 and suspended him for two months for allegedly misapproprating the personal information of 2,300 customers.
According to FINRA's order, in anticipation of leaving his former employer, Infinex, in June 2022, Nathaniel Adams "improperly emailed an unencrypted spreadsheet containing" the birth dates, Social Security and driver's license numbers, account numbers, and tax information of thousands of customers to his wife's personal email account and then, from that account, he emailed the spreadsheet to the email account of a contact at his prospective employer, LPL.
He faced four felony charges in Polk county, Florida, that were dismissed in February.
AdvisorHub reported on June 20 that the emails were sent to Adams' wife.
Adams sent these emails without the firm's or customers' consent and in contravention of the firm's procedures, violating FINRA Rule 2010, according to the order.
From February 2016 through July 2022, Adams was registered with FINRA through Infinex Investments Inc. — now known as Osaic Institutions Inc. — as a general securities representative.
He registered with FINRA through LPL Financial as a general securities rep in July 2022.