FINRA announced in July 2013 that it has barred Howard Beach, New York stockbroker Edwin Efrain Mosquera from working with any FINRA brokerage firm in any capacity. Mosquera, who worked for the brokerage firm Investor Capital Corp., consented to FINRA’s findings that he recommended and engaged in unsuitable and excessive trading in customer accounts between February 2007 and November 2010. FINRA found that Mosquera churned customer accounts by buying and selling securities within short time periods all while earning significant commissions. Churning is one of the more egregious forms of investment fraud, in that the broker clearly puts their personal financial interests ahead of the customers’ interests.
FINRA also found that all of the customers that Mosquera abused were unsophisticated investors with limited education. In two instances, English was the customers’ second language; and in another case, the customer did not speak or read English. Although FINRA ultimately appropriately banned the broker, proper supervision of the broker by Investor Capital Corp. likely could have avoided the abusive trading.
