FINRA Bars Ex-Broker Probed Over Mutual Fund Suggestions

Former broker Michael Charles Grande has been barred from working with registered investment and advisory firms after refusing to respond to a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority investigation into mutual fund recommendations he made to clients, the organization says.

Grande is barred from associating with any registered FINRA firm in any capacity, a hearing officer ruled last week. He passed his Series 7 exam in 1983 and went on to work with eight broker-dealers from 1984-2022.

The former advisor was with Newbridge Securities Corp., in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from November 2005 until May 2022, according to his FINRA BrokerCheck record.

FINRA staff members first requested information late last year, the decision states. They were looking into whether certain mutual funds that Grande had recommended were suitable for clients, as well as his suggestions that customers engage in short-term mutual fund trading.

In one phone call with the agency, Grande told FINRA that he didn’t have access to the paperwork related to customers identified in the request and that he could not recall specific strategies that were in place for the clients, the agency alleged.