Barry Franklin Connell Has Been Barred by FINRA and Charged by the SEC for Allegedly Stealing $5M from Elderly Clients

Connell is reported to have stolen $5 million from his elderly clients

In January, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) permanently barred Barry Franklin Connell from working as a broker. The decision came after an investigation reported that he made numerous transfers from client accounts without authorization. FINRA first suspended Connell but had no choice but to ban him after he declined to offer the agency information it requested.

Within weeks of FINRA’s ruling, Connell was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with stealing money from clients. Allegedly, the funds he was transferring were being used to settle a private lawsuit. The SEC alleges that for about a year, Connell moved money between accounts – many of which belonged to elderly clients – and also issued wire transfers and checks from those accounts to third parties.

From December 2015 to November 2016, Connell is reported to have made over 100 unauthorized transactions. He allegedly fabricated internal forms that said he had gotten verbal agreements for the transactions from his clients. As the result of his reported actions, Connell may have violated Section 206(1) and Section 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Over 18 years, Connell worked for three firms, starting with UBS Financial Services Inc. in Pearl River, NY. He then moved on to Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, also in Pearl River. Connell ended his career at Morgan Stanley out of Ridgewood, NJ. When the allegations against him surfaced in November of 2016, he was fired.

You can learn more about Connell by reading this BrokerCheck report created by FINRA.

Although there is greater awareness of elder financial abuse, it is still a common occurrence. The good news is that people who have lost money as the result of actions that violate securities industry regulations can sometimes reclaim it through securities arbitration. The attorneys at Silver Law Group are leaders in the field of securities arbitration. Scott Silver is the current chair of the American Trial Lawyers Association Securities and Financial Fraud Group, and our attorneys have many years of experience handling elder financial fraud cases and arbitration claims.

To evaluate your situation, contact the elder financial fraud attorneys at the Silver Law Group for a free consultation. We are a contingency-based law firm, which means we don’t require any fee unless you get money back.