Thursday, May 24, 2012

FINRA Respondent Wins Case, Now Running for FINRA Board

Three years ago, Kevin Carreno was about to become the top securities regulator in Florida, by way of an appointment by the Governor. However, as the appointment was being announced, FINRA decided to file an enforcement proceeding against Mr. Carreno, and the appointment slipped away.
Kevin believed that the enforcement case stemmed from an animus that developed between him and some Finra officials over his earlier, rigorous defense of a broker-dealer client, and fought the charges. In a rare decision, the FINRA hearing panel threw out all of FINRA Enforcement's claims - but that was too late for the Florida securities post.
Now Kevin is running for a seat on the FINRA Board of Governors. I have known Kevin for many years,he is not only an attorney but a well known and respected compliance professional. His background, experience and knowledge will make him an excellent addition to the FINRA Board. Having witnessed first hand the harm that an abusive regulator can cause to even the most respected securities professional, his election might bring some balance to an organization that is too often abusive towards member firms - in particular small firms.
Kevin is running for one of three small firm seats on the FINRA Board. The small-firm seat became available earlier this month when FINRA Board member Joel Blumenschein, president of Freedom Investors Corp., resigned after settling failure-to-supervise charges brought by Finra enforcers last September. Mr. Blumenschein's term was due to expire in August. We wrote about his settlement, the fact that he remainded on the Board despite being suspended, and his ultimate resignation.
Potential candidates for the vacant seat have to collect signatures from 3% of the 4,059 small firms registered with Finra in order to get on the ballot.
Read the InvestmentNews Article - If you can beat 'em, join 'em: Finra target now running for board - InvestmentNews
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