The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released a review of Kimberly Springsteen-Abbott's case. A senior brokerage and private placement executive who was barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA).
Ms. Springsteen-Abbott, who is also the CEO and chairman of Commonwealth Capital Corp., displayed widespread misconduct involving thousands of dollars of expenses charged to private placement funds — resulting in a $100,000 fine and over $209,000 in disgorgement.
Commonwealth Capital Corp. is the parent of the wholesaling broker-dealer Commonwealth Capital Securities Corp, who, according to the firm's BrokerCheck report, is now led by Henry Abbott (the husband of Ms. Springsteen-Abbott.)
Commonwealth CEO Used Investor Money for Personal Expenses
In 2013, FINRA accused Ms. Springsteen-Abbott of using investors' money to pay for personal expenses over the course of three years.
She reached a $1.5 million settlement with the SEC after the agency determined that related private placement funds deceived investors when it came to compensation practices at the funds.
CEO Filed FINRA Appeal and Lost
Ms. Springsteen-Abbott subsequently appealed FINRA's decision to bar her from the brokerage industry to the SEC. While the SEC's decision upheld the bar, the commission's review found that FINRA's fine was unnecessary — even though a review panel already had reduced the original fine to $50,000.
The commission wrote in its decision that Ms. Springsteen-Abbott's misconduct was 'egregious.' It also added that her actions were unjustified as she enriched herself by misallocating funds and harming investors, finding that Ms. Abbott’s continued association with a FINRA-member firm would endanger the integrity of the markets.
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