James Arnold Busch barred from securities industry

According to FINRA’s December 2013 Disciplinary Actions, James Arnold Busch recently submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Busch consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he utilized his customers’ bank account information, with the affiliate bank of his member firm, to misappropriate approximately $1.3 million from some of his firm brokerage customers, most of whom were elderly women. The findings stated that Busch allegedly misappropriated money from his customers using two primary methods. Busch typically called his credit card company’s automated system and requested payments from his customers’ bank accounts to his personal credit card account. Busch provided his credit card company with the customers’ bank routing and bank account numbers to make the transactions.

Busch also allegedly used a manual process, whereby he submitted a paper debit memo to his credit card company to authorize payments from his customers’ bank accounts to Busch’s credit card account. In some instances, Busch liquidated securities from the customers’ brokerage accounts in order to generate cash. The cash was transferred from the customers’ brokerage accounts to the customers’ bank accounts prior to Busch’s misappropriation of the funds.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, James Arnold Busch worked as a wealth adviser at a Wells Fargo bank branch in Brunswick, Georgia.

The White Law Group is investigating the liability that Busch’s employers may have for failure to properly supervise Busch and his activities.  Brokerage firms have an obligation to supervise their financial advisors and to ensure that they are complying with FINRA Rules.

According to his FINRA Broker Report, James Arnold Busch was registered with Wells Fargo Advisors in Brunswick, Georgia from October 2000 through October 2013.

For a free consultation with a securities attorney, please call The White Law Group at 312/238-9650.  The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.

For more information on the firm, visit https://whitesecuritieslaw.com.