Broker Investigation: Ethan De Naray

Ethan De Naray (CRD#: 4571532) is a registered investment advisor based in Wayzata, Minnesota. Currently, Mr. De Naray is employed as a broker at Feltl & Company. Previously, Mr. De Naray was a securities representative of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith (2007-2017).

On May 19th, 2017, Ethan De Naray was terminated from his position at Merrill Lynch after allegations arose that he allegedly made unauthorized trades in a customer’s non-discretionary trading account. All information contained within this post comes directly from Mr. De Naray’s official BrokerCheck report.

Allegations of Misconduct: Ethan De Naray

There are two disclosures on the FINRA record of Ethan De Naray. The most recent pertains to his termination at Merrill Lynch. According to the brokerage firm, Mr. De Naray improperly exercised discretion in a non-discretionary trading account. In effect, this means he executed an unauthorized transaction. With non-discretionary brokerage accounts, investment advisors must always get the customer’s approval for each individual transaction.

In addition to the unauthorized transactions, Mr. De Naray is also alleged to have incorrectly marked certain trades as unsolicited when they were actually solicited. Registered brokers have a professional duty to make sure that they are recording accurate records pertaining to all trading activities.

Notably, in February of 2017, an investor complaint was filed against Mr. De Naray for unauthorized trading. A Merrill Lynch customer alleged that Mr. De Naray conducted unapproved transactions between June of 2016 and February of 2017. Eventually, this complaint was settled and the customer was offered $92,000 in financial compensation.

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