FINRA Suspends Aegis Advisor Joe Lascala

Melville, New York financial advisor Joe Lascala (CRD# 3070261) made unapproved trades in a customer’s account, according to a recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority enforcement action. FINRA records show that he is a broker registered with Aegis Capital Corporation.

According to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (No. 2021070337201) issued in January 2022, Joe Lascala was associated with Aegis Capital Corporation when, between July 2014 and April 2016, he engaged in excessive and quantitatively unsuitable trading, as well as unapproved discretionary trading, in the account of a firm customer. FINRA found that he placed 235 trade in that customer’s account, “235 trades over this period, generating an annualized cost-to-equity ratio of 29.16% and an annualized turnover rate of 5.8.” This short-term trading was “excessive and unsuitable given the customer’s investment profile,” according to FINRA, which found that Mr. Lascala’s conduct resulted in trading costs of $90,720 and losses of $116,194. FINRA alleged further that he exercised discretion in the placement of 139 trades in the account, though he had not obtained his firm’s prior written authorization to exercise such, as required by its policies and procedures at the time. FINRA found that Mr. Lascala’s conduct violated FINRA and NASD rules, issuing him a four-month suspension and a fine of $7,500. His suspension commenced on February 2, 2022 and lifted on June 21, 2022. 

Mr. Lascala’s BrokerCheck report also discloses multiple investor complaints. The most recent, filed in 2012, alleged supervisory failures while he was at Gunnallen Financial, reaching a settlement of $7,500. Another, filed in 2010, similarly alleged supervisory failures while he was a representative of Gunnallen Financial, reaching a settlement of $275,000.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Joe Lascala holds 24 years of securities industry experience. Based in Melville, New York, he has been a broker with Aegis Capital since 2012. His past registrations include Paulson Investment Company, Gunnallen Financial, Investec Ernst & Company, and Royce Investment Group. His credentials include the passage of six securities industry qualifying exams: the General Securities Principal Examination, or Series 24; the Registered Options Principal Examination, or Series 4; the General Securities Representative Examination, or Series 7; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series 63; and the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination, or Series 65. He is licensed in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Virginia. (Information current as of September 3, 2022.)

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