Ex-SunTrust broker barred for not complying with FINRA probe

A broker who was discharged from SunTrust earlier this year was barred from the industry on Wednesday for refusing to cooperate with a FINRA investigation into his expense reimbursements.

Gregory Brent, a broker with SunTrust Investment Services in Atlanta, declined to appear for on-the-record testimony, a decision that automatically results in a bar, FINRA said in his settlement agreement.

Brent was dismissed in January for submitting expense reimbursements that SunTrust alleged were not valid expenses, FINRA said.

The broker could not be reached for comment. He agreed to the bar without admitting or denying FINRA's findings.

Brent joined SunTrust in August 2009, working for both the bank and its retail brokerage division, according to his BrokerCheck report. He had previously been with Wachovia Securities in McLean, Virginia.

Hugh Suhr, a spokesman for SunTrust, declined to comment on the former employee.

Brent joins a former high-level Wells Fargo executive who was also barred this year for refusing to cooperate with a FINRA investigation. Shelley Freeman, the bank's former Los Angeles regional president who was dismissed in the wake of the bank's sales practices scandal, was ousted in August for declining to provide FINRA with requested documents.

At least 11 other former bank reps, not counting Freeman, have been expelled from the industry this year for failing to comply with FINRA probes.