Former J.P. Morgan rep ousted for blowing off FINRA investigation

Another former bank rep has been expelled from the industry for refusing to cooperate with a FINRA investigation into alleged misconduct.

Moises David Rivera-Castillo, a former rep registered with J.P. Morgan Securities in Mount Kisco, N.Y., declined to provide the regulator with documents and information it requested, a decision that automatically results in getting barred, FINRA said in a recent disciplinary filing.

FINRA was looking into allegations that he issued unauthorized bank debit cards and used those cards to make purchases and withdraw funds for personal use, according to the filing.

Rivera-Castillo could not be reached for comment. In his settlement with FINRA, he neither admitted nor denied the charges but consented to an entry of FINRA's findings.

Rivera-Castillo joined J.P. Morgan Chase Bank in February 2012 and J.P. Morgan Securities in October 2012, according to BrokerCheck records. He was discharged from the bank in September for the alleged misconduct.

Michael Fusco, a spokesman for Chase Wealth Management, declined to comment.

Rivera-Castillo is the third former J.P. Morgan rep since November to be barred for declining FINRA's request for information. Bo Li, formerly with J.P. Morgan Chase in Salt Lake City, was banished in early December for refusing to appear for on-the-record testimony regarding transactions in his personal bank account. Whitley Kiara Hood, a former rep in Chicago, was expelled in November for declining to provide on-the-record testimony regarding allegations that she misappropriated funds from a J.P. Morgan-affiliated bank.

The three join at least two other bank advisers barred in 2016 for blowing off FINRA investigations. Mark Peter Koestner, a former adviser with Wells Fargo in Naples, Fla., was barred last April, and Kenneth Lynn Miller, a former broker with First Tennessee Bank in Memphis, Tenn., was ousted last March.