• December 20, 2021
• Wynston Hill Capital

Robert P. Foley (CRD#: 6060234) is a registered Investment Advisor and previously registered Broker.

Broker’s Background

He entered the securities industry in 2012 and previously worked for Wynston Hill Capital, LLC; Maxim Group, LLC; Pruco Securities, LLC; and Metlife Securities, Inc.

Current And Past Allegations Of Conduct Leading To Investment Loss

According to publicly available records released by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in December 2021, FINRA sanctioned Robert P. Foley, levying a civil and administrative penalty/fine of $5,000, and suspending him from any principal capacity for four months beginning December 6, 2021 and ending April 5, 2022. The FINRA sanction states, “Without admitting or denying the findings, Foley consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he failed to reasonably supervise two registered representatives of his member firm who excessively traded customers’ accounts and a third representative who falsified the firm’s books and records. The findings stated that Foley did not reasonably review orders or conduct periodic reviews to identify potentially unsuitable recommendations or excessive trading, as set forth in the firm’s written supervisory procedures (WSPs). Although Foley signed off on weekly trade reviews, he did not focus on red flags of potentially unsuitable or excessive trading, such as frequent trading, large trades placed on margin, in-and-out trading, and high commission charges. As a result, Foley did not reasonably supervise the two representatives who excessively traded customers’ accounts, ultimately charging those customers more than $300,000 in commissions and fees in less than six months.

The trades recommended by the two representatives resulted in annualized cost-to-equity ratios in excess of 100 percent, meaning that the accounts would have had to grow by more than 100 percent per year just to cover the commissions and other costs charged to the accounts. Foley also did not investigate red flags that the representatives were recommending securities in the customers’ accounts despite not being registered in the customers’ home states. In addition, Foley knew that the third representative, who was listed in the firm’s books and records as the registered representative of record for the accounts in question, was only 20 years old and had virtually no experience as a registered representative. Foley also knew that the two representatives, who had introduced the customers to the firm, had been unable to obtain registrations in the customers’ home states, and that the third representative became their registered representative of record shortly thereafter. Foley did not take reasonable steps to investigate these red flags, such as contacting the customers. Had he done so, Foley would have learned that the two representatives – and not the third representative (the representative of record) – were making securities recommendations to the customers in question.”

For a copy of the FINRA sanction, click here.