Summit Equities Broker Rembert McNeer is Given a 1-Year Suspension from FINRA

The Parsippany, New Jersey broker was also hit with a $10,000 fine

Up until recently, Rembert McNeer had a clean record with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). A broker for over 30 years, McNeer worked for three firms: E.F. Hutton & Company Inc.; G.A. Michele, Inc. in New York City; and Summit Equities, Inc. located in Parsippany, NJ.

But in October of 2016, FINRA found that McNeer failed to supervise the private securities transactions of one of his representatives. McNeer was the representative’s immediate supervisor, as well as the member firm’s chief compliance officer.

FINRA discovered that McNeer’s firm let the representative use a broker-dealer in order to sell the securities of a hedge fund controlled by the representative. Although it wasn’t permitted, the representative used the hedge fund to sell the securities of many different hedge funds. In addition, he never reported the sales to the firm as required, which were around $6.2 million. Due to the collapse of an options trading fund, investors ending up losing about 95 percent of the money they invested.

FINRA assessed that McNeer failed to supervise the Summit Equities representative’s activities. He is reported to have never looked at the broker-dealer’s books or records, reviewed emails, or conducted an onsite visit of the office. McNeer also allegedly didn’t notice any red flags, such as the request of the representative for $2.5 million in wire transfers from the accounts of five customers. In fact, McNeer approved two of those transfers and never thought to question the representative.

Failure to supervise is a serious accusation because it implies that managers do not oversee or vet client investments or the people handling them, which can directly contribute to illicit activities and the loss of money.

Although McNeer didn’t deny or admit the findings, he consented to the year suspension and a $10,000 fine. The allegations are offered in more detail in the BrokerCheck report generated by FINRA.

If Rembert McNeer or Summit Equities, Inc. handled your investments or is currently handling them, it’s important that you know exactly what’s going on. If you have a hard time getting answers or suspect you lost money as a result of securities industry violations, contact the Silver Law Group.

Scott Silver is the current chair of the American Trial Lawyers Association Securities and Financial Fraud Group, and our attorneys specialize in fighting for clients who have lost money at the hands of brokers or firms who have failed to supervise or otherwise taken advantage of their positions. We work on a contingency-fee basis, which means we don’t get paid unless you recover funds.

A securities-arbitration attorney will provide a free consultation and talk to you about your options. Get in touch by filling out our online form.