Harvey Frank: FINRA Suspends San Diego Broker

Stifel Nicolaus & Company broker and investment adviser Harvey Frank (CRD# 2109605) was recently sanctioned by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in connection to allegations he improperly disclosed customer information. Formerly a representative of Hilltop Securities in San Diego, California, Frank was issued a 30-day suspension and a fine of $5,000.

According to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (No. 2015047496103) dated December 2019, Harvey Frank was associated with Hilltop Securities from 2008 until his resignation in 2015, after which the firm filed a disclosure noting that it was completing an internal review to determine whether he had acted in violation of any “”investment-related statutes, regulations, rules or industry standards of conduct.” FINRA’s findings go on to state that in August 2015, Harvey Frank sent an “unauthorized individual” at another broker-dealer firm a “copy of a ‘Daily Person Trade and Commission Blotter.'” FINRA states that this document contained information concerning about 27 customers of Hilltop Securities. The information included names, account numbers, and trading data. FINRA states further that in September 2015, Frank “retained several binders of account statements and other documents,” and that these contained nonpublic personal information concerning about 89 customers of the firm, “including social security numbers.” According to FINRA, he “retained these materials” following the termination of his registration with the firm. FINRA states that he was “not entitled to possess them” after that point. 

FINRA’s findings note that during the period in question, Hilltop Securities’ written policies and procedures forbade the disclosure of customers’ nonpublic personal information to third parties who were not affiliated with the firm. The disclosure of such information by financial institutions is also generally forbidden by Regulation S-P, FINRA states, noting that registered individuals who cause their firms to violate that regulation are themselves in violation of FINRA Rule 2010. As a result of the foregoing alleged conduct, Frank was issued a 30-day suspension and ordered to pay a fine of $5,000.

Harvey Frank has been registered with Stifel Nicolaus & Company’s branch office in San Diego, California since 2015. His previous registrations include Hilltop Securities and ML Stern & Company. He has passed three securities industry qualifying examinations and his BrokerCheck report lists 24 state securities licenses. (Information current as of May 12, 2020.)