FINRA bars former LPL broker for stealing $1.7 million from customers

FINRA on Tuesday morning said it had barred a broker who was fired by LPL Financial almost a year ago and faced allegations of taking more than $1.7 million from two customers while registered with LPL.

A veteran financial advisor with 19 years of experience in the industry, Rudy Anguiano was registered with LPL Financial in Brea, Calif., near Anaheim, from April 2022 until last December, according to his BrokerCheck profile.

FINRA barred Anguiano from working at any broker-dealer due to the “conversion - the intentional and unauthorized taking of another person’s property - of $1,731,000 from two customers’ accounts into an outside business bank account,” according to a statement by FINRA.

FINRA began its investigation into Anguiano in December 2025 after LPL disclosed that Anguiano had been discharged for failing to disclose his outside business, according to the statement. LPL has since reimbursed both customers in full, according to the statement.

Anguiano agreed to FINRA’s findings without admission or denial of any charges.

A spokesperson for LPL Financial did not return a call to comment. Anguiano’s attorney in the FINRA bar, Michelle Jacko, also did not return a call to comment.

Working with more than 30,000 financial advisors in various capacities and business lines, LPL Financial is the largest broker-dealer, as measured by headcount, in the retail securities industry.

LPL Financial “discharged” or fired Anguiano in late 2025 for two reasons, according to his BrokerCheck profile. He engaged in outside business activities without the firm’s approval, a violation of industry rules and standards. He also participated in and directed clients to private investments.

Advisors and brokers must receive a firm’s review and approval to sell certain products and run into trouble when they operate outside those lines.

“Between July 2023 and August 2025, Anguiano transferred funds from LPL accounts belonging to two of his customers into the bank account of a limited liability company he solely owned and controlled,” according to FINRA.

“In five separate transactions, Anguiano received $1,528,000 from the account of one customer,” FINRA said. “In five additional transactions between September 2024 and May 2025, he received $203,000 from the second customer’s account.”

“Neither customer authorized the transfers nor was aware that Anguiano was redirecting their funds to his business,” according to FINRA.

Like many large broker-dealers and registered investment advisors, LPL will have problems with financial advisors who break industry sales rules and potentially harm clients.

For example, another ex-LPL Financial broker in El Paso, Texas, who was fired by LPL last year and passed away months later, is at the center of at least nine pending investor lawsuits against his old firm involving outside business activities and sales.

Over the summer, one client alleged that the advisor, Michael C. Graham, made misrepresentations on a loan related to a real estate deal.

That client is alleging damages of $25,000, according to Graham’s profile on BrokerCheck. In the eight other similar investor complaints, clients are alleging damages of almost $840,000.

According to his BrokerCheck profile, Graham was registered with LPL Financial from 2019 to June 2025 when he was discharged, or fired.