September 14, 2009
September 15, 2009
VIA EMAIL
Ms. Florence E. Harmon
Deputy Secretary
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F. Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549
RE: FINRA 2009-050
Dear Ms. Harmon:
The purpose of this correspondence is to comment on FINRAs Proposed expansion of BrokerCheck to permanently disclose the disciplinary histories of former financial advisors. Under current the version of FINRA Rule 8312, a financial advisors record is no longer available once the financial advisor has left the industry for two years. FINRA Regulatory Notice 2009-50 proposes to amend Rule 8312 to make the disciplinary records of financial advisors with final regulatory actions, as defined in Form U-4, permanently available. Levin Papantonio focuses its practice representing investors who have been harmed by the misconduct of the securities industry (Industry). We are encouraged by FINRAs efforts to promote investor protection. We would recommend that Rule 8312 be expanded to allow BrokerCheck to include all information that is currently available on a Legacy CRD report without any time limitation.
Respectfully,
Peter J. Mougey, Esq