The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined stockbroker Mark Everrett Friesen of San Francisco, California $5,000 and suspended him through March 31, 2013, for allegedly willfully neglecting to modify his Form U4 and failing to advise others at his firm—Conifer Securities—about felony charges against him.
On May 4, 2011, Friesen was charged in San Francisco Superior Court with two felonies determined not to have been related to his position as a Financial and Operations Principal at Conifer (see: Man Faces Child Endangerment Charges After Child Eats Pot Cookies, SF Weekly (9/7/2011)). FINRA Rules require all stockbrokers and registered personnel to update their Form U4 to reflect any felony charge.
FINRA saw fit to sanction Friesen for willfully failing to disclose this activity through industry forms, deeming Friesen's conduct as "inconsistent with high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade."
Criminal charges are one of several disclosures FINRA includes on the BrokerCheck website in an effort to ensure that industry customers receive vital information before choosing to invest or continue to work with a given broker or firm.
If you have invested with Mark Everrett Friesen or any broker or firm whose failure to disclose material facts has proven harmful to your investments or interests, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.