Finra bars former Aegis broker for churning

James Schwartz made 256 unauthorized trades in accounts of four clients.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has barred James Schwartz, a broker who worked at Aegis Capital during the time in question, for churning accounts of four clients.

(More: SEC wins churning case against ‘cockroaching’ broker)

Finra said that Mr. Schwartz — who was associated with Aegis from June 2013 through June 2016 and no longer works in the securities industry — engaged in 256 trades in the accounts of four clients without first obtaining authorization from these customers for the trades. In total, he made 535 trades in these customer accounts resulting in combined losses of more than $660,000. At the same time, he generated gross sales credits and commissions of approximately $277,705, of which Mr. Schwartz received more than $194,000.

Mr. Schwartz began his career in 1998 and worked at 12 firms in addition to Aegis, including one that was expelled from Finra.