Robert Gleason: FINRA Suspends Former Cantella & Company Advisor

Former Owensboro, Kentucky financial advisor Robert Gleason (CRD# 1415067) was recently suspended in connection with allegations that he recommended unsuitable transactions. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records show that he was most recently registered with IFP Securities, having previously been registered with Cantella & Company.

A Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (No. 2021069335701) issued in April 2024 describes FINRA’s disciplinary action against Mr. Gleason. As it describes, he recommended an unsuitable pattern of “in-and-out, short-term trading” to a customer “in her early sixties, [with] an investment profile reflecting an income of $50,000 and a liquid net worth of $700,000.”According to FINRA’s findings, he executed 91 such  trades in the customer’s account between July 2020 and June 2021, a time w hen the customer’s average account balanced totaled roughly $101,000. The trades involved the purchase of “approximately $1.3 million in securities,” with the customer paying “more than $28,000 in commissions and trade costs.” They also led to a “cost-to-equity ratio exceeding 28%—meaning that 3 Customer A’s account would have had to grow by more than 28% during the 11-month period just to break even—and a turnover rate of 12.93.”

FINRA found that Mr. Gleason’s trading activity violated Regulation Best Interest, under which brokers must undertake reasonable diligence and care to arrive at a reasonable basis to believe that when they recommend a series of transactions, they are in the customer’s best interest and not excessive. As a result of these findings, FINRA issued Mr. Booth a three-month suspension from associating with any FINRA member in all capacities. It also ordered him to pay a fine of $5,000.

Mr. Gleason’s BrokerCheck report discloses one recent investor complaint. Filed in March 2022, it alleges that as a representative of Cantella & Company, he exercised discretionary authority in a customer’s account, traded securities without the proper license, abused her trust, “made a considerable amount of money more than he made for her with her investments,” forged letters to his firm’s compliance personnel, “manipulated her,” and “persuaded her to sell bonds she owned years ago saying they were going to junk bond status which she now believes was done in an effort to generate cash for the multiple trades and commissions.” The pending complaint alleges unspecified damages believed to exceed $5,000.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Robert Gleason holds 36 years of securities industry experience. Most recently based in Owensboro, Kentucky, he was last registered with IFP Securities from February 2022 until May 2022. His registration history includes Cantella & Company, Ross Sinclaire & Associates, Raymond James & Associates, Merrill Lynch, AdVest, and H&R Block Financial Advisors. His credentials include the passage of four securities industry qualifying exams: the General Securities Sales Supervisor Examination (Options Module & General Module), or Series 8; the General Securities Representative Examination, or Series 7; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; and the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series 63. He has been suspended from acting as a broker. (Information current as of April 3, 2024.)

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