Safra Securities LLC (CRD #47873, New York, New York) recently submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured, fined $25,000 and ordered to pay $22,576, plus interest, in restitution to the customers.

Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it charged mark-ups or mark-downs on certain purchases and sales of fixed income securities that were not fair and reasonable, taking into consideration the factors set forth in NASD Interpretive Material (IM) 2440-1(b) and that exceeded 5 percent. The findings stated that the firm charged $22,576 in excessive mark-ups or mark-downs in a total of 16 transactions. The firm’s WSPs required that the designated supervisory principal review all principal and riskless principal transactions daily to determine whether mark-ups charged complied with NASD Rule 2440 and IM-2440-1 and that mark-ups or mark-downs in excess of 5 percent required approval by a designated supervising principal prior to such charges being made. The firm failed to implement its supervisory system for the review of mark-ups or mark-downs charged as it failed to review the foregoing riskless principal transactions to determine the appropriateness of the mark-up or mark-down in light of the factors delineated in its own procedures and in NASD Rule 2440 and IM-2440-1, and failed to require a designated supervising principal’s approval of mark-ups or markdowns in excess of 5 percent prior to such charges being made.

This information which is publicly available on FINRA’s website has been provided by The White Law Group, LLC.

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