FINRA recently announced that Michael John Rukujzo, a former financial advisor in Plainfield, Illinois, has been barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Rukujzo consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he participated in the negotiation and consummation of an Asset Purchase Agreement transaction, involving another FINRA member, a non broker-dealer entity and an entity which was a customer of his member firm. The findings further stated that the transaction resulted in the transfer, from the other FINRA member, of multiple customer mutual fund positions for which Rukujzo’s firm had become the dealer of record to the dominion and control of his firm’s customer (the entity), which exposed customers’ accounts to losses as a result of the entity’s speculative margin trading. The findings also stated that Rukujzo’s firm facilitated the transfer of certain positions held directly at mutual fund companies to an omnibus margin account held and maintained at the firm’s clearing firm in the name of the entity, for which the firm was the broker-dealer of record. The findings also included that the firm advised its clearing firm that the customers had authorized the use of their mutual fund assets as collateral when in fact, the customers did not sign any margin authorization forms, and information sent to the customers did not mention a margin account, the use of margin in investment strategies, or the use of the customer’s assets as collateral to support margin trading in the omnibus account. Finally, the findings stated that Rukujzo allowed an unregistered person to function as a representative and the firm’s principal without being registered.
According to his FINRA Broker Report (CRD), throughout his career, Michael John Rukujzo was a registered representative with Traderight Securities, a FINRA registered broker-dealer based in Dallas, Texas, Peregrine Financials & Securities, a Chicago based broker-dealer, and Linsco/ Private Ledger Corp., a Boston, Massachusetts registered broker-dealer.
If you have questions regarding investments you made with Michael Rukujzo, or if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, The White Law Group may be able to help. The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The firm has over 30 years of experience reviewing securities fraud claims and handles matters throughout the country and Illinois, including reviewing securities fraud cases in Plainfield, Joliet, Aurora, Naperville, Orland Park, Bolingbrook, and Chicago. To contact the firm, please call 312-238-9650 or 561-961-5411. Or, for more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.