April 7, 10

NEWS / Regal Securities Assessed $10,000 Civil Penalty for Allowing Unregistered Agents to Conduct Investme

NEWARK – Attorney General Paula T. Dow today announced that an Illinois-based securities company has been assessed a $10,000 civil penalty by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities (NJBOS) for failure to reasonably supervise two employees at its Brick, New Jersey office.

Regal Securities allowed employees Kenneth D. Franklin and Michael J. Kelly to make investments for consumers when neither was registered with the NJBOS as an agent as legally required. In 2005 and 2006, Franklin conducted approximately 495 transactions and Kelly conducted approximately 60 transactions on behalf of investors, both while unregistered.

“Financial firms must exercise proper supervision of their employees, and ensuring representatives are registered is fundamental to protecting clients,” Attorney General Dow said. “The Bureau will continue policing these obligations on behalf of New Jersey’s investors.”

Franklin previously paid a $21,000 civil penalty to the NJBOS and Kelly paid a $10,000 civil penalty, for the unregistered activity.

“Giving hard-earned money to an unregistered person to invest creates unnecessary risk,” said Marc B. Minor, Chief of the NJBOS. “The Bureau of Securities within the Office of the Attorney General will continue to aggressively enforce our investor protection laws.”

Minor noted that Regal Securities has now implemented a computerized broker surveillance system to better monitor its employees.

http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases10/pr20100407c.html