Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated (CRD #8209, New York, New York) recently submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $375,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that a former associated person and employee of the firm in its New York Position Services Group (NYPS) misappropriated approximately $2.5 million from the firm, institutional firm customers and a firm counterparty by entering, or causing to be entered, numerous false journal entries into the firm’s electronic system to transfer and credit money associated with corporate actions.

The findings stated that the former employee entered, or caused to be entered, into the firm’s electronic system requests for checks to be issued to his shell corporation against the suspense and/or fee accounts that he was using to misappropriate funds. The findings also stated that the firm’s former employee entered some check requests himself, which NYPS employees that reported to him later approved. The findings also included that the former employee caused employees who reported to him to enter check requests, and he used the identification number and password of another NYPS employee who reported to him to enter the remaining check requests; he later approved all of the check requests.

FINRA found that the firm failed to establish and implement an adequate system of follow-up and review of journal entries and adequate procedures for reviewing and approving check requests related to corporate actions. FINRA also found that the firm did not have any procedure to review the former associated person’s check requests and journal entries. In addition, FINRA determined that the firm failed to properly supervise the former associated person and failed to detect that he entered, or caused to be entered, false check requests and false journal entries related to corporate actions, which allowed him to misappropriate approximately $2.5 million from the firm, its institutional customers and a firm counterparty. Moreover, FINRA found that the firm introduced a new system, the Summary of Manual Journals (SOMJ), to replace the review of all journal entries and require the review and approval of journal entries that the firm determined to be high priority.

Furthermore, the findings stated that these journal entries remained on the SOMJs until a supervisor reviewed and approved them, and the former associated person was assigned to review and approve all high-priority journal entries flagged on the SOMJs, including his own. The findings also stated that the firm assigned some NYPS supervisors, all of whom reported directly to the former associated person, to review and approve journal entries flagged on SOMJs, but nobody was assigned to review high-priority journal entries entered by anyone not on one of those teams, including the former associated person. The findings also included that the firm failed to have a system to inform NYPS management if journal entries flagged on the SOMJs were not approved.

FINRA found that the former associated person made numerous journal entries, some of which were flagged as high-priority; he approved several of them; many were not reviewed and were listed on the SOMJs pending approval at the time of his termination. FINRA also found that check requests NYPS personnel entered were required to be approved by another NYPS employee, but the firm did not require the person approving the check to be a supervisor or have supervisory responsibility; as a result, NYPS associates approved check requests an NYPS supervisor entered, and entered check requests on a supervisor’s behalf, which the supervisor subsequently approved. In addition, FINRA determined that the firm did not require any review to determine if the check request was associated with a corporate action and the approver simply ensured that all the required information was included in the check request.

This information which is publicly available on FINRA’s website has been provided by The White Law Group, LLC.

If you have questions about investments you made with Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help.  To speak with a securities attorney, please call the firm’s Chicago office at 312/238-9650.

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