FINRA has fined Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC for charging unfair municipal bond prices to customers. Fidelity consented to FINRA’s findings that it charged excessive markdowns or markups on bond trades. This practice of gouging investors takes money directly out of investors’ pockets. Brokerage have been able to get away with this type of securities fraud for years because investors generally were not informed how much they were being charged for bond trades. Investors with significant bond portfolios should have their accounts reviewed to determine whether their brokerage firm charged them too much to buy and sell bonds.
