FINRA recently issued a regulatory decision wherein William James Murphy was fined $591,933.67 as disgorgement of commissions and barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. The sanctions were based on findings that Murphy exercised discretion in clients’ accounts without the customers’ or his member firm’s prior authorization. The findings further stated that Murphy engaged in churning and excessive and unsuitable trading in customers’ accounts in light of their financial situation and investment objectives. The findings also stated that Murphy effected uncovered trades in a customer’s accounts beyond the levels the customer authorized or Murphy’s firm approved. Finally, the findings also included that Murphy created and distributed inaccurate, misleading and unbalanced written communications, including reports and sales literature, to a customer.

FINRA also found that Carl Max Birkelbach failed to supervise Murphy’s handling of customer accounts at his member firm, and failed to properly review and prevent misleading documents from being sent out from his firm.

According to his FINRA Broker Report (CRD), William James Murphy has worked as a registered representative (financial advisor) at the following firms: Birkelbach Investment Securities, Inc., Lexington Securities, Inc., Oppenheimer & Co., and Merrill Lynch.

If you have questions about investments you made with William James Murphy, The White Law Group may be able to help.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and commodities or futures transactions. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at https://whitesecuritieslaw.com, or call the firm at 312-238-9650.