A FINRA OHO Hearing Panel found that former Royal Alliance Associates and Centaurus Financial advisor Robert Earl Holaday of La Mesa, California forged or caused the forgery of customer signatures on various forms, issuing him a two-year suspension and $10,000 fine.
FINRA OHO Disciplinary Proceeding #2012032519101
FINRA's initial complaint stated that when Holaday switched firms—going from Royal Alliance to Centaurus Financial—he submitted to Centaurus a new account application on behalf of a customer Holaday had served when he was at Royal. The report found that Holaday also submitted to Oppenheimer Funds a series of financial adviser change forms on behalf of several customers.
According to the complaint, none of Holaday's clients signed the financial advisor change forms, nor did they authorize anyone else to sign any form for them. Accordingly, the complaint concluded that Holaday forged or caused the forgery of these customers' signatures on those forms.
For instance, one former Holaday client discovered that a document submitted to Centaurus inaccurately listed her former occupation as a federal police officer when she never held such a position. She also said during testimony that she did not recognize any of the handwriting on the document and even reviewed an earlier change of broker/representative form Holaday had submitted on her behalf to the Lincoln Financial Group. In regards to that form, Holaday admitted he inserted the date on the form's signature line, but denied signing his client's name.
According to further evidence produced for the Hearing Panel, Holaday submitted forged forms to Centaurus and Oppenheimer that were "markedly different" from the forms he mailed to his customers for their records.
After a three-day hearing in San Diego, the Hearing Panel determined that "Holaday had opportunity and motive" to forge or cause the forgery of the client signatures, and that Holaday admitted submitting the forged documents to Centaurus and Oppenheimer.
Holaday, who is appealing the panel's findings to the National Adjudicatory Council, was discharged from Centaurus Financial after an internal investigation turned up "signature irregularities" on several change of dealer documents.
As of September 2015, Holiday's NAC appeal is pending.
If you have invested with Robert Earl Holaday or with any broker, financial adviser or other financial professional whose forgery of your signature on a form 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.