FINRA ousted two advisors from the industry last week for failing to cooperate with investigations into allegations that they engaged in undisclosed outside business activities.
Kevin Scott Woolf, a former Morgan Stanley advisor in Winter Haven, Florida, declined to provide documents and on-the-record testimony concerning claims that he pursued multiple business ventures, including the development of a hotel, and participated in an undisclosed private securities offering for the development project that was marketed to Morgan Stanley customers, according to his settlement with FINRA.
Farid Morim, a former advisor with J.P. Morgan Securities in Beverly Hills, California, likewise failed to comply with the regulator's requests for documents and information needed to investigate allegations that he converted customer assets and was involved in outside businesses that he did not disclose.
Failure to cooperate with FINRA probes automatically results in a bar, the regulator said.
Neither Woolf nor Morim could be reached for comment. Woolf's attorney, Nicole Newlon of law firm Johnson & Cassidy in Tampa, Florida, did not return email and voice messages.
Woolf agreed to the bar without admitting or denying the charges against him. He now serves as managing partner at Tom Wolf Co., an investment group focused on alternatives, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Woolf joined Morgan Stanley in December 2012 and voluntarily resigned from the firm in June 2016, according to FINRA.
Morim did not settle the allegations and has 28 days to appeal FINRA's decision. He worked for J. P. Morgan from October 2012 to October 2015, when the firm terminated his registration over the suspected misconduct, FINRA said.
Elizabeth Seymour, a spokeswoman for J.P. Morgan, declined to comment on Morim's expulsion. Christine Jockle, a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley, did not respond to an email seeking comment on Woolf getting barred.
