Finra suspends salesman over commuting expenses

Finra this week suspended an institutional salesman for eight months and fined him $5,000 for fudging expense reports related to his commuting expenses riding a bus, according to a settlement released Tuesday.

Anthony DeJohn was registered with BMO Capital Markets Corp. from mid-2015 through the beginning of 2020, according to The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. He was "discharged," meaning fired, according to the settlement, when BMO disclosed that he "used his corporate card for personal expenses" but "repaid amounts owing within 24 hours of being directed to do so. Loss of confidence, not customer or securities related."

From March 2019 through August 2019, DeJohn improperly used BMO's funds by charging to his corporate card and obtaining reimbursement for $2,270 in daily commuting expenses, which is against BMO expense policies, according to Finra.

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Regulators like Finra and large firms like BMO are closely watching any potential fudging of brokers’ and sales peoples' expense report submissions. 

DeJohn's attorney, Michael Mui of Sack & Sack, did not return a call Friday morning to comment. As is customary in such industry settlements, DeJohn neither admitted to or denied the Finra findings.

According to his LinkedIn page, DeJohn worked in U.S. hedge fund sales and product distribution at BMO.