• Robert S. Beck of Philadelphia was issued a letter of admonition for failing to clearly identify the assets of a client over which he was to exercise investment discretion; exercising discretion in the client’s accounts on approximately 10 occasions without written discretionary authorization from the client or approval from his firm, and failing to report outside business activities and obtain his firm’s approval to engage in such activities. Finra previously fined him $5,000 for the activities.
• Arthur J. Smithee of Orem, Utah, agreed to a letter of admonition for exceeding the scope of an outside business activity approved by his firm by becoming involved in the day-to-day management of a publicly traded company when his firm had only approved the provision of consulting services. He also engaged in undisclosed outside business activities, participated in undisclosed private securities transactions and facilitated the purchase by his daughter’s LLC of 6 million shares of common stock in a publicly traded company for $150,000 without obtaining prior approval from his firm. FINRA suspended Smithee for six months and fined him $10,000.