Ignore Terminations & FINRA 8210 Letters at Your Own Risk

As a recent article in Financial Advisor IQ points out when a Registered Representative / Broker receives an 8210 Letter from FINRA requesting information and a signed statement, it would be wise to quickly call an experienced FINRA Attorney to assist in the initial response. Typically this follows a termination where the same Rep failed to contact an experienced FINRA Attorney to engage with the firm about what will be submitted in their U5 filing, which may have avoided the dreaded 8210 letter.

The initial response to any 8210 letter sets the stage for what happens later. Too many reps call us, only after they responded on their own,  to save money, only to learn that their response only did further damage, causing FINRA to further focus on them, by asking more questions and/or requesting that they come to FINRA for an on the record in intereview or an OTR. As a result not only is the time needed for an attorney to assist substantially lengthened, but the Rep is locked into a statement which is not helpful. 

These days there are many FINRA Enforcement action related to firm's meal reibursement programs such as the recent firing/suspension of a Morgan Stanley representative who did not have counsel), and/or a Fidelity broker who took advantage of a computer reimbursement programs  allowance program. We have written about this issue before but it bears repeating as FINRA has been on war path with regard to such issues. Such programs provide for the expenditure of certain meals which the rep abuses, and/or the reimbursement for the purchase of a laptop which the rep then returns, but keeps the funds. These matters involve serious charges which reflect upon honesty and theft and thus FINRA takes such allegations seriously. In theory, these matters can turn into criminal proseuctions, as FINRA and/or the firm involved can refer them to local prosecutors. Those that treat such investigations as minor are in for a rude awakening when FINRA later suspends or Bars them. Further, most representatives, being self represented or represented by inexperienced FINRA counsel who are not familiar with FINRA's rules, fail to realize that a suspension even if short can in effect be the same as a bar if the AWC alleges it was intentional. As a result, the represenative becomes statutorily disqualified from the industry, meaning any firm that employs them would need to implement signficant oversight over the rep such that it makes it impossible for a firm to afford to employ them and they cant find a job. In addition, any admissions can in theory be used for a criminal prosecution.

I have handled hundreds of U5 negotiations/FINRA 8210 Letter responses to date, and I have found that it is rare to find a case where we did not assist altering the U5 language so that the language was less impactful on the rep and/or avoided a potential 8210 Letter* while still accurate as to the reason for the departure. We engage with the firm and question every word of the proposed language asking the firm to attempt to support their proposed langauge or otherwise encourage them to alter it so that it better reflects what they know or do not know. Further, upon being retained to respond to a FINRA 8210 letter we request that the client provide us with their proposed response to FINRA as the first step. We have yet to see a single proposed response which did not require substantial modification while keeping the response accurate. For example, many representatives provide too much information , which was not even requested, and in so doing make matters worse. As a result, as many of our former  clients attest to, we often succeeded in avoiding many of the negative repriccussions that would have been career ending for our clients wihout our assistance*.  If you wish to have a free confidential/privleged phone consultation on your issue please feel free to contact me if you have recently been terminated or recieved an 8210 letter. 


Stuart Meissner Esq.
Managing Partner
Meissner Associates
212-764-3100

​Note:  New York based Meissner Associates is a nationally recognized employment law firm focused on the unique employment issues within the securities industry which is overseen by FINRA. The firm also represents SEC whistleblowers before the SEC, investors and securities professionals before FINRA arbitration panels and securities professionals in enforcement proceedings, as well as institutional and retail investors worldwide in recovering improper investment losses and protecting the employment rights of employees in the securities industry in FINRA arbitration and AAA Arbitration. Managing member Stuart Meissner is a former Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan and Assistant New York State Attorney General in the Investor Protection and Financial Crimes Units. 

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