Finra bars former ETrade employee

A former employee at ETrade has been permanently banned from the industry after he refused to cooperate with a Finra investigation related to his allegedly having transferred funds from a client account without authorization.

The case involves Matthew J. Chimento, who started as a general securities representative in 2018. According to his BrokerCheck profile, Chimento began in the industry on March 1, 2018 with ETrade, the self-directed investing arm of Morgan Stanley.

As detailed in his letter of acceptance, waiver and consent dated March 9, Chimento resigned from the firm on November 20, 2023, amid an internal review around a suspicious transaction.

According to the document, the firm was investigating Chimento for allegedly “transferr[ing] funds out of a client’s account into an account for [his] benefit without client authorization.”

The document is silent on the amount of money that was purportedly transferred, when the alleged unauthorized transaction occurred, or the details of the client in question.

Following Chimento's voluntary resignation, Morgan Stanley filed a Form U5 with Finra on December 11 detailing the circumstances around his departure.

On February 8, Finra contacted Chimento to ask for information and documents in relation to his alleged unethical and financially harmful conduct.

That request was met with a response on February 21 via an email from a legal representative. According to Finra, his counsel said Chimento acknowledged Finra’s request, but “will not produce the information or documents requested.”

That refusal violated Finra Rule 8210, which in part says Finra may compel a “person associated with a member, or any other person subject to FINRA’s jurisdiction to provide information orally, in writing, or electronically . . . with respect to any matter involved in the investigation, complaint, examination, or proceeding.” Another section under the rule draws an even harder line: “[n]o member or person shall fail to provide information . . . pursuant to this Rule.”

Finra says Chimento also breached Rule 2010, which holds associated persons should “observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade” in conducting their business.

As a consequence of these violations, the self-regulatory agency barred Chimento from any association with member firms. Finra placed Chimento under statutory disqualification, preventing him from engaging in any capacity with Finra member firms, including clerical roles.