Investor Alert: Recent FINRA Bars, Suspensions, Complaints, and Firm Sanctions

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) continues to publish its monthly disciplinary actions involving registered brokers, brokerage firms, and associated persons. These reports highlight allegations of serious misconduct, including supervisory failures, unsuitable recommendations, undisclosed outside business activities (OBAs), unauthorized private securities transactions (PSTs), and a failure to cooperate with regulatory investigations.

For everyday investors, these disciplinary actions serve as crucial warning signs. Reviewing a broker’s regulatory history can help investors better understand whether their financial losses were caused by standard market risk alone—or by systemic misconduct, unsuitable advice, unauthorized activity, poor firm supervision, or other violations of securities industry rules.

This roundup highlights several notable recent FINRA actions involving individual brokers, advisors, and brokerage firms.

Recent Individuals Barred by FINRA

FINRA’s April 2026 disciplinary report featured several individuals permanently barred from associating with any FINRA member firm. A significant portion of these matters involved allegations that the broker failed or refused to provide information, documents, or testimony requested by FINRA during an active investigation.

  • Anthony Tianfeng Cheng — FINRA reported that Cheng was barred after allegedly refusing to provide information and documents in connection with an investigation into whether he engaged in undisclosed outside business activities.

  • Ronny Cruz — FINRA reported that Cruz was barred after allegedly refusing to provide information and documents in connection with an investigation involving allegedly inaccurate documentation submitted to a firm’s matching-gifts donation program.

  • William Bryan — FINRA reported that Bryan was barred after allegedly refusing to provide information and documents connected to a Form U5 review involving asset transfers from a family member’s account.

  • Jeyakumar Nadarajah — FINRA reported that Nadarajah was barred after allegedly refusing to fully answer FINRA questions in an investigation involving certain trading practices.

  • Ricardo Cruz — FINRA reported that Cruz was barred after allegedly refusing to provide information, produce documents, and appear for on-the-record testimony in an investigation involving allegations of inaccurate documentation.

  • Gregory Vincent Matthews — FINRA reported that Matthews was barred after allegedly refusing to provide information and documents connected to an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his discharge from a member firm.

  • Peter Thomas Lawrence — FINRA reported that Lawrence was barred after allegedly failing to provide documents, information, and testimony in an investigation that included allegations involving a forged customer signature, unsuitable product recommendations, and inaccurate portfolio summaries.

Additional Recent Broker Bars

FINRA’s March 2026 disciplinary report also detailed several individual bars. These matters spanned various regulatory infractions, including penny-stock activity, the misuse of customer information, unauthorized private securities transactions, borrowing money from customers, and a general failure to cooperate with regulatory inquiries.

  • Jeffrey Kenneth Galvani and Stuart A. Jeffery — FINRA reported that both individuals were barred after allegedly failing to provide on-the-record testimony connected to an investigation involving outside entities that provided services to customers trading low-priced securities.

  • Nana Kwame Kwakye-Bissah — FINRA reported that Kwakye-Bissah was barred after allegedly failing to respond to FINRA requests for documents and information. FINRA stated that the underlying Form U5 disclosure involved allegations concerning the unauthorized use of customer personal information and non-genuine signatures.

  • Jay Deron Zornes — FINRA reported that Zornes was barred after allegedly refusing to provide information and documents or appear for testimony in connection with an investigation involving allegedly unapproved customer communications.

  • James Thaddeus Walesa — FINRA reported that Walesa was barred after allegedly failing to respond to requests for information, documents, and testimony in an investigation involving potential sales practice violations, undisclosed private securities transactions, and recommendations made to an elderly customer.

  • Hugo Hernandez — FINRA reported that Hernandez was barred after allegedly refusing to appear for testimony in an investigation into whether he failed to return investment funds, engaged in undisclosed private securities transactions or outside business activities, or improperly borrowed funds from customers.

  • Lyhen Fiallo — FINRA reported that Fiallo was barred after allegedly refusing to provide documents and information in an investigation involving potential borrowing from a securities customer.

Recent Broker Suspensions Involving Investor-Related Issues

In addition to permanent bars, FINRA issued several short- and long-term suspensions targeting conduct directly impacting retail investor accounts.

  • Robert Settimio Cupello — FINRA reported that Cupello was suspended and fined after allegedly recommending that six senior customers exchange deferred variable annuity contracts without a reasonable basis to believe the transactions were suitable. FINRA noted that the customers intended to rely heavily on income from these annuities for retirement.

  • Kyle Lindner — FINRA reported that Lindner was suspended after allegedly participating in a private securities transaction with a customer without providing mandatory prior notice to his member firm. FINRA stated that the customer invested $150,000 in a promissory note issued by a purported real estate development company.

  • Thomas Pieter Lansing Jr. — FINRA reported that Lansing was suspended after allegedly being named a beneficiary of, and receiving more than $50,000 from, a customer’s life insurance policy without obtaining required firm approval.

  • Gilbert Anthony Rodriguez Jr. — FINRA reported that Rodriguez was suspended after allegedly causing solicited Unit Investment Trust (UIT) purchases to be inaccurately marked as “unsolicited” in firm records.

  • Todd Peter Arnoldussen — FINRA reported that Arnoldussen was suspended after allegedly causing order tickets for recommended securities transactions to be mismarked as unsolicited.

Recent Firm-Level FINRA Actions

FINRA’s recent oversight operations also resulted in disciplinary actions against brokerage firms. These sanctions stemmed from deficiencies surrounding supervision, Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) compliance, private placements, leveraged and inverse ETFs, customer complaint reporting, securities lending programs, and off-channel electronic communications.

  • Arkadios Capital, LLC — FINRA reported that Arkadios was censured, fined, and ordered to pay restitution following findings of supervisory failures related to leveraged and inverse ETFs. FINRA stated that the firm failed to detect and address 47 instances in which a representative recommended daily-reset, non-traditional ETFs to 36 retail customers, including seniors.

  • Taglich Brothers, Inc. — FINRA reported that Taglich Brothers was censured and fined following findings involving Regulation Best Interest, Form CRS compliance, private placement investor disclosures, and supervisory-control system issues.

  • Avantax Investment Services, Inc. — FINRA reported that Avantax was censured and fined following findings involving systemic deficiencies in its supervisory systems related to custodial accounts held under the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA) and Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA).

  • Altruist Financial LLC — FINRA reported that Altruist was censured, fined, and ordered to pay restitution involving its fully paid securities lending program. FINRA stated that more than 30,000 customers were enrolled and that certain disclosures contained misrepresentations regarding the compensation customers would receive.

  • Folio Investments, Inc. (d/b/a Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions) — FINRA reported that Folio was censured and fined in connection with best execution violations and supervisory deficiencies.

  • Velocity Capital, LLC — FINRA reported that Velocity was censured and fined following findings involving lax supervision over outside business activities, private securities transactions, and unmonitored, off-channel electronic communications.

Recent FINRA Complaint Involving Alleged Conversion

Beyond resolved disciplinary actions, FINRA filed a formal disciplinary complaint against Avinesh K. Shankar. According to FINRA, Shankar was named as a respondent in a complaint alleging that he converted more than $511,000 from his member firm by allegedly forging customer signatures on annuity applications to trigger advanced commission payments.

Important Note for Investors: The issuance of a disciplinary complaint represents the initiation of a formal proceeding and does not mean that final findings have been made or that the allegations have been proven. Investors should treat pending allegations differently from finalized regulatory actions.

Why These FINRA Actions Matter to Investors

A FINRA bar, suspension, complaint, or firm sanction does not automatically mean that every client who worked with the broker or firm has a viable legal claim. However, these public disclosures should prompt investors to ask vital questions regarding their portfolios:

  • Did the investor receive unsuitable or overly aggressive recommendations?

  • Were complex financial products—such as annuities, private placements, promissory notes, structured products, or leveraged ETFs—recommended without balanced risk disclosures?

  • Did the broker engage in outside business activities or private securities transactions completely hidden from (“away from”) the firm?

  • Did the brokerage firm reasonably execute its duty to supervise the broker?

  • Were account records, customer signatures, order tickets, or official communications handled improperly?

  • Were senior or retirement-focused investors exposed to unnecessary downside risk?

Investors who suffered unexpected financial losses after working with any broker or firm named in a recent regulatory action should carefully review their account statements, trade confirmations, correspondence, and private offering documents.

Speak With a Securities Attorney

Sonn Law Group represents investors nationwide in FINRA arbitration, securities fraud matters, broker misconduct claims, and investment loss recovery cases.

If you invested through a broker or firm that has been named in a recent FINRA disciplinary action—or if you suffered losses involving unsuitable investments, unauthorized trading, private placements, promissory notes, annuities, leveraged ETFs, or other high-risk products—you may have legal options to recover your funds.

Contact Sonn Law Group today for a free, confidential consultation.

Sources & Reference Links

Investors can review the full, unedited regulatory filings and detailed backgrounds for these matters directly via FINRA: