Finra bars rep for scamming Fidelity on computer purchases

Finra bars rep for scamming Fidelity on computer purchases
Kitwana Thomas took advantage of employee-reimbursement program.
FEB 08, 2019

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has barred Kitwana Thomas, a former employee of Fidelity Brokerage Services, for violating rules for commercial standards by cheating the company out of $3,700 through an employee reimbursement program. Finra said that Mr. Thomas, who resigned from Fidelity in 2017 after almost five years with the firm, had devised a scheme in which he submitted purchase receipts for computer equipment using the other employees' online accounts, and then cancelled the orders or returned the equipment. The employees then paid to Thomas a total of $3,700 of the reimbursements they received. (More:​ Finra punishes former Schwab broker for lying about role in $800,000 phishing scam The scheme was intended to game a Fidelity-sponsored a program through which the company reimbursed employees for personal computer equipment purchases. Mr. Thomas already obtained the maximum reimbursement allotted to a Fidelity employee under the program before engaging in the deception. Mr. Thomas worked at the firm's Jacksonville, Fla., call center.

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