FINRA Suspends Ex-M Holdings Advisor Dean Grant

A disciplinary action taken by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority against former Milledgeville, Georgia broker and investment advisor Dean Grant (CRD# 1945209) barred him over allegations he refused to provide FINRA with information and documents it requested as a result of allegations he converted customer funds and forged documents. A former representative of M Holdings Securities, Grant was indefinitely barred from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm as a result of these findings.

According to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (No. 2019061567201) signed in May 2019, informed FINRA through counsel that he was declining to produce information and documents it requested, violating FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010. FINRA’s findings state specifically that it requested documents and information from Grant on February 13, 2019, following allegations that he “converted funds from customers, forged documents and failed to disclose certain liens” on his disclosure records. However, FINRA states, Grant did not respond to FINRA’s request by its deadline of February 27, 2019. Accordingly, FINRA sent a second request on February 28, 2019, to which Grant “provided only a partial response” on March 14, 2019, omitting some of the requested documents and information. He gave a similar partial response to a third request for the outstanding documents and information sent on March 15, 2019, according to FINRA, and indicated to FINRA through an April 12, 2019 email from his counsel, as well as an April 15, 2019 conversation with his counsel, that he would not provide any further information or documents.

According to FINRA’s findings, these alleged actions were in violation of FINRA Rule 8210(a)(1), which states in part that FINRA is empowered to require any person subject to its jurisdiction to “provide information orally, in writing, or electronically and to testify at a location specified by FINRA staff, under oath or affirmation” in connection to matters it is investigating. Similarly, FINRA Rule 8210(c) states that no “member or person shall fail to provide information or testimony… pursuant to its rule.” FINRA’s findings state that a failure to comply with a request for information also constitutes a violation of FINRA Rule 2010, which mandates persons associated with FINRA “to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade.” As a result of the foregoing alleged conduct, Dean Grant was barred from association with any FINRA member firm in any capacity.

Dean Grant is not currently registered as a broker. His employment history includes M Holdings Securities and NYLife Securities, both in Milledgeville, Georgia. He currently holds no state licenses and has passed three securities industry qualification examinations.