A former Wells Fargo adviser was suspended for two months and fined $5,000 for failing to tell the firm about his dry-cleaning business.
Evans Fomunyoh kept his firm in the dark about his business venture in violation of a rule requiring reps to divulge such information, FINRA claimed in a settlement with the adviser.
Reps are required to provide their employers with prior written notice of their involvement in outside enterprises, FINRA said.
FINRA scolded Fomunyoh for lying on his annual attestation that he had no external business activities, when in fact he had.
Fomunyoh did not return a phone message seeking comment. In his settlement with FINRA, he neither admitted nor denied the charges but consented to an entry of FINRA's findings.
Fomunyoh worked for Wells Fargo Advisors in Madison, Wisconsin, from January 2011 to May 2015, when he voluntarily resigned from the firm, according to BrokerCheck records. He also simultaneously worked for Wells Fargo Bank.
Fomunyoh was not the only former Wells Fargo adviser FINRA sanctioned this month. The regulator also suspended Frank William Hoover, a rep based in Wichita, Kansas, for 10 business days for selling $2,500 worth of shares in a customer's mutual fund without first talking to the customer, according to a FINRA settlement.
Hoover sold the mutual fund shares to generate monthly distributions of $350 for the customer, FINRA said. He allegedly sold the positions after receiving notice that the customer had insufficient funds in her account to make the automatic $350 distribution she had been receiving.
In addition to the 10-business-day suspension, FINRA slapped Hoover with a $5,000 fine.
Hoover could not be reached for comment. Like Fomunyoh, he settled the matter with FINRA without admitting or denying the charges against him.
Hoover was registered with Wells Fargo Advisors from August 2005 to July 2017, according to FINRA.
Emily Acquisto, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo Advisors, had no comment on either Hoover or Fomunyoh.
