Finra, exchanges bar Samuel Lek for faulty supervision

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. and virtually every major U.S. securities exchange have permanently barred Samuel Lek, former chief executive officer of Lek Securities, and fined the firm $900,000 for violating their rules. [More: Securities lawyers call on Finra to halt expungement process] The actions were taken by Finra, the Nasdaq Stock Market, the New York Stock Exchange, Cboe Global Markets, and certain of their affiliated exchanges (collectively, Exchanges). The fine was apportioned among Finra and the exchanges. For several years, Lek Securities provided market access to foreign traders who engaged in various forms of manipulative trading on U.S. equity and options exchanges, including layering, spoofing, and cross-product manipulation, Finra said in a release. Mr. Lek and his firm "substantially assisted this trading through a master-sub account held at Lek Securities and failed to reasonably supervise it," the release said. [Recommended video: Why advisers are slow to recognize the world moving toward ESG] Despite many "red flags" and ongoing investigations into the activity by Finra, the exchanges and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Lek and his firm allowed the manipulative trading to continue for years, Finra said.