Finra bars broker involved with Dawn Bennett

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has barred Bradley C. Mascho for failing to appear at a hearing looking into his activities at Western International Securities. Mr. Masco was terminated by the firm, which is based in Pasadena, Calif., in December. Mr. Mascho and Dawn J. Bennett, who also worked at the brokerage firm, are the subjects of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into an alleged scheme that involved the sale of more than $20 million in convertible and promissory notes to at least 46 investors from December 2014 to July 2017. In December, in connection with its fraud case against Ms. Bennett, the SEC charged Mr. Mascho, the onetime chief financial officer of DJB Holdings, her investment firm, with aiding and abetting an offering fraud by the firm. The U.S. Attorney in Maryland, where Mr. Mascho lives, has opened a criminal case against him in the matter. In its letter of acceptance, waiver and consent in which it barred Mr. Mascho, Finra said that it was investigating him for "potential serious violations, including fraud, undisclosed outside business activities, and private securities transactions." In recent years, Ms. Bennett repeatedly has been in trouble with the SEC, which charged her in September 2015 with inflating both the amount of assets under management by her firm, Bennett Group Financial Services, and the investment returns obtained by the firm. After failing to appear last year at an SEC hearing before an administrative judge, she was barred from the securities industry this March. Several customer complaints against her are pending.