Kim Tran: FINRA Suspends Ex-NYLife Advisor

Houston, Texas financial advisor Kim Tran (CRD# 5575725) was recently sanctioned and suspended in connection with alleged rule violations. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records show that she was most recently registered as a broker with NYLife Securities.

A Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (No. 2024084471901) describes FINRA’s disciplinary action against Ms. Tran. Filed in July 2026, it alleges that she falsified documents relating to a customer’s life insurance policy and “commingled customer funds with her own.” Per the AWC Letter, she allegedly changed the address on the customer’s policy to her own address, then falsified three loan checks. The checks in question were allegedly drawn against the insurance policy’s cash value, totaling more than $14,000.

Ms. Tran made the checks payable to her father, according to the AWC, who signed them and deposited the proceeds into a bank account the two of them jointly held. After this, FINRA found, she allegedly transferred portions of the funds to her personal account. She allegedly “believed she was authorized to take these actions to safeguard the funds pending their return to the customer,” according to FINRA, but failed to confirm this understanding with the customer, who was a personal friend. The loans were reversed following a complaint by the customer. Finding that her conduct violated FINRA Rule 2010, the regulator issued her a nine-month suspension and ordered her to pay a fine of $5,000.

Ms. Tran’s BrokerCheck report discloses one investor complaint. Filed in 2024, it alleged that signatures on three loan checks were not the customer’s and that “an address change was initiated without the policyowner’s consent.” In April 2025 the complaint reached a settlement of $16,236.27.

A second disclosure on her BrokerCheck report concerns her termination from NYLife Securities. Filed in 2024, the disclosure states that the firm fired her after she “submitted false documents in support of a death claim the Company could not validate.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Kim Tran holds 15 years of securities industry experience. Most recently based in Houston, Texas, she was last registered as a broker with NYLife Securities from 2009 until 2024. Her credentials include the passage of three securities industry qualifying exams: the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series 63; and the Investment Company Products/Variable Contracts Representative Examination, or Series 6. (Information current as of July 6, 2026.)

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