Labor & Employment Law

Broker using stolen identity pleads guilty

By Dobin & Jenks

6 years ago, I handled a case against Securities America (Now Ameriprise) where the broker used a stolen identity. In fact, he used two stolen identities. The second one was a law school classmate of his, who then spent years straightening out the mess.

Fast forward to today. A broker, using the name Joseph Bonnano, in Ohio entered a guilty plea related to the falsehoods one must tell in order to propagate a stolen identity, in this case Timothy Hyde. In the prior case that I handled, much money was missing and lost. Investment News reports - that, at least for now, no money was lost.

When I handled the Securities America case, they tried to say that the broker, even though he used a phony name, was properly registered. He wasn?t of course, since he did not use his real name.

The Ohio broker?s clients may have the right to rescission ? to pick the trades they don?t like and ask for their money back. So if you?re a client of Joseph Bonnano, also known as Timothy Hyde, you may be able to get second chance.

The one interesting thing we learned from the earlier case is that FINRA collects fingerprints but does not run each set of prints through a database like you see on CSI (even though there?s poetic license there as well). Instead, they just compare names and social security numbers to see if anything pops up on the national criminal database. That?s how an identity thief gets registered as a stockbroker.

Full post as published by The Law Planet Blog on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).