Carol Holesha: Former LPL Broker Suspended Over Client Loan Allegations

A disciplinary action taken by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority against former Chicago, Illinois broker Carol Holesha (CRD# 1490209) suspended her over allegations she took a loan from a customer without notifying her member firm. A former representative of LPL Financial, Holesha was suspended for five months and fined $7,500.

According to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (No. 2018059481701) dated November 2018, Carol Holesha was registered with LPL Financial when, in May 2013, she borrowed a sum of $125,000 from a customer “to facilitate a real estate purchase.” The customer was her personal friend and also a client whose account she was assigned to service, according to FINRA, which goes on to state that the loan was not memorialized by a promissory note or any other document, and that the oral agreement they made concerning the loan “had no specific terms regarding interest or repayment,” only that she would repay the borrowed funds in the future. According to FINRA, Holesha did not give her member firm, LPL Financial, notification that she was borrowing funds from the customer, nor did she seek an exception to the firm’s “general prohibition against borrowing money from others”; she also did not receive the firm’s prior approval to enter into the loan agreement, according to FINRA. FINRA’s findings go on to state that in annual questionnaires submitted for the years 2013 through 2017, Holesha stated each year “that she had not borrowed or loaned any money or securities from or two another individual or entity.” These statements were misleading, according to FINRA, due to the sum of $125,000 she had borrowed from her customer in May 2013.

These actions, per FINRA’s findings, constituted violations of FINRA Rules 3240 and 2010. As a result of the foregoing alleged conduct, Carol Holesha was suspended from association with any FINRA member firm in any capacity for five months. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $7,500 and restitution to the customer of $125,000, as well as interest.

Carol Holesha is currently not registered as a broker. Her employment history includes LPL Financial in Chicago, Illinois, Mutual Service Corporation, and River North Securities Corporation. She currently holds no state licenses and has passed three securities industry qualification examinations.