Allegation of Fraud on U5/ Any chance of ever being employed in the financial services industry ever again?
To make a long story short, 3 years ago I was working as an internal wholesaler for a Mutual Fund company. Job seemed like a good stepping stone and I did pretty well in opening up leads for my external wholesaler. The job was compensated for sales, but there were 3 bench marks you had to get. A certain amount of dials out, contacts with reps, and "talk time" or amount of time on the phone. It was a common practice that voicemails were allowed as talk time and never questioned. They did an audit and basically let me quit before they terminated me. My U5 says this on it.
AN INTERNAL REVIEW OF THE ENTIRE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE POPULATION WAS CONDUCTED REGARDING SALES ATTEMPTS MADE BY REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AS TRACKED BY OUTBOUND TELEPHONE CONTACT TIME (CALLED TALK TIME) AND AS REPORTED BY TELECOMMUNICATIONS. TALK TIME IS A MEASURE FOR REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES IN DETERMINING THEIR OVERALL PERFORMANCE AND ELIGIBILITY FOR PERFORMANCE-RELATED BONUSES. DURING THE COURSE OF INTERNAL REVIEW (INSERT MUTUAL FUND COMPANY NAME HERE) INC. DETERMINED THAT MR.(blank) ENGAGED IN CONDUCT IN AN EFFORT TO INFLATE HIS TALK TIME. SUCH CONDUCT IS IN VIOLATION OF HUMAN RESOURCES AND COMPLIANCE POLICIES, INCLUDING THE GUIDELINES OF CORPORATE CONDUCT AND GLOBAL COMPLIANCE CORE PRINCIPLES, AND IS A MISREPRESENTATION UNDER THE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE INCENTIVE PLAN.
With the obvious posting at this time, I lose sleep over this. I enjoyed the financial markets and wish to be employed now that I have perspective on what doing a good and honest job means. With what is up above on my U5 and a heading saying "Allegations: Fraud", is it ever going to be possible to get a job again in this industry? If so, where do I start? If not, any ideas of industries or places I can apply like it, where I wouldn't have FINRA ruining my job prospects? Any advice would help. I'm scared that this will ruin any chance of landing a decent job ever. Thanks for taking your time to read this.
Bill, in the above situation. Is the former employee able to write a written response?
Also, are reps allowed to contest the language of these descriptions?
What is the process of disputing these commentaries that are becoming all the more common these days?
Though I will agree that the U5 description reads like #$$ but Bill makes a good point. You have to explain to the recruiter or potential BD employer that the conduct was not customer related, did not violate FINRA rules, and there was no FINRA or state review of the matter. I will say though that if you want to be registered in Florida that they will probably take between 2 weeks and 3 months to review your record given the disclosure.
If the Form U5 was an Internal Review, you are afforded the opportunity to file a rebuttal on the Form U5. Though this is normally handled at your next firm you should call FINRA at (301) 590-6500 and tell them you're not currently with a BD and you want to file a comment on your Form U5 concerning an internal review DRP (disclosure reporting page). good luck
Any B/D with their head on their shoulders will read through that garbage. FINRA is beginning to be a bad version of the Better Business Bureau, and I understand why guys go RIA.