Broker Investigation: Trevor Michael Saliba

Broker Background

Trevor Michael Saliba (CRD: 2692057) is a registered securities broker. As of January of 2018, Mr. Saliba is listed as a current representative of NMS Capital Advisors, LLC (CRD# 140356), where he has been working since 2012.

Previously, this broker had been a representative of several other firms, including NMS Capital, Securities, LLC, Arque Capital, LTD., and Newbridge Securities Corporation. Based in Beverly Hills, CA, Mr. Salibia is licensed to operate in 22 different U.S. states, including California, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey.

FINRA Disclosures

According to his BrokerCheck Report, Mr. Saliba has one disclosure on his record. The underlying action that led to this disclosure was initiated by FINRA in March of 2016. On December 15th, 2017, a FINRA Hearing Panel issued its initial decision in this case.

The decision was to permanently bar Trevor Michael Saliba from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Mr. Saliba had filed an appeal of the disciplinary decision, which is currently still pending.

Below, our investment fraud attorneys have provided key selections from the FINRA Department of Enforcement disciplinary action. All information below is sourced directly from the Extended Hearing Panel Decision.

If you are an investor who is looking for additional details regarding this case, please refer to the full decision: Disciplinary Proceeding No. 2013037522501.

FINRA Department of Enforcement: Extended Hearing Panel Decision

“In 2011, Respondent Trevor Michael Saliba purchased FINRA member firm MCA Securities, LLC (“MCA Securities”) through an entity that he owned, NMS Capital Group, LLC (“NMS Capital Group”). After completing the purchase, Saliba changed the name of the firm to NMS Capital Securities LLC (“the Firm” or “NMS Capital Securities”) and filed a Continuing Membership Application (“CMA”) with FINRA’s Membership Application Program (“MAP”) seeking approval of the ownership change. While its review of the CMA was pending, MAP imposed certain restrictions on the Firm, including a prohibition against Saliba serving in any principal or supervisory capacity. Ultimately, MAP denied the CMA, MAP’s denial was affirmed by FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council (“NAC”), and the Firm withdrew from FINRA membership.

On March 24, 2016, FINRA’s Department of Enforcement filed an eight cause Complaint against Saliba; Sperry Randall Younger, who served as the Firm’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and its Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) during a portion of the CMA process; Richard Daniel Tabizon, who also served as the Firm’s CCO during a portion of the CMA process and as a Firm principal during the entire process; and Arthur Mansourian, who was registered with the Firm in a non-principal capacity during the CMA process.

In substance, the Complaint alleged that (1) Saliba functioned as a principal during the CMA process, causing the Firm to violate the restrictions imposed by MAP; (2) Saliba made false statements and provided false documents and incomplete information to FINRA; (3) Younger gave false testimony to FINRA and failed to reasonably supervise Saliba to ensure the Firm’s compliance with the restrictions; and (4) Saliba, Tabizon, and Mansourian provided backdated firm compliance documents to FINRA examiners and caused the Firm to maintain incomplete and inaccurate books and records. Respondents filed Answers to the Complaint denying the charges and requested a hearing.

A hearing on the charges was held before a FINRA Extended Hearing Panel during the period September 18 through 23, 2017. The Panel heard testimony from 13 witnesses and received approximately 200 exhibits in evidence. For the reasons set forth in this Decision, the Panel concluded that Enforcement proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Respondents violated FINRA and NASD rules in most respects alleged in the Complaint.

The Panel further concluded that, considering all the relevant circumstances, the appropriate sanctions for the violations were to bar all four Respondents from association with any FINRA member firm in any capacity.”

An Appeal Has Been Filed

On the FINRA BrokerCheck report for a securities representative, investors can find a broker’s comments to pending actions, should a broker wish to give any public comment. In this case, the following is listed as a comment from Trevor Michael Saliba:

“Mr. Saliba has filed an appeal based on FINRA offering insufficient evidence to prove the allegations. Mr. Saliba did not violate the Interim Restrictions, and was under the constant and direct supervision of the Firm’s CEO and CCO. He neither knew nor had reason to know that any documents he submitted to FINRA in response to an 8210 request were not genuine, he did not fail to provide any responsive materials, including computers and no such computer existed or was in Mr. Saliba’s possession that contained responsive information, he was unaware that an instruction from a compliance principal to provide a backdated compliance form was made without FINRA’s awareness and no such evidence exists or was presented that proves otherwise. The Panel erroneously denied Mr. Saliba’s initial motion to sever, which resulted in undue prejudice to him at the hearing. As a result, the Hearing Panel’s decision was heavily based on credibility determinations, rather than unrebutted evidence. The Hearing Panel assessed an excessive sanction on Mr. Saliba, failing to properly weigh the facts, evidence and considerations set forth in the FINRA Sanction Guidelines.”