Christopher Reynolds: FINRA Bars Former Pruco Advisor

Former Canonsburg, Pennsylvania financial advisor Christopher Reynolds (CRD# 5976029) was recently barred by FINRA in connection with alleged rule violations. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records show that he was previously registered as a broker with Pruco Securities and WesBanco Securities.

A Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (No. 2022076491301) issued in August 2024 describes FINRA’s disciplinary action against Mr. Reynolds. As it explains, FINRA found that he forged three customers’ signatures on 11 account documents between September 2021 and January 2023, violating FINRA Rules 2010 and 4511. The forms in question included “transfer of asset forms and 1035 exchange/rollover/transfer forms,” according to the AWC Letter. FINRA found further that he made unsuitable investment recommendations involving the surrender of annuities to purchase units of a registered index-linked annuity. The customers in question “incurred penalties such as surrender charges, the imposition of new, lengthier surrender periods, and tax consequences” that they could of avoided had he recommended 1035 exchanges instead of full withdrawals or surrenders. These recommendations resulted in more than $32,000 in surrender fees, according to FINRA, which found that they constituted willful violations of the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest and FINRA Rule 2010.

Finally, FINRA found that Mr. Reynolds used his personal email account and cell phone to communicate with firm customers, including at least one customer with whom he communicated about securities-related matters. “Pruco’s electronic communications policy required that all outgoing emails to customers were to be sent via Pruco’s approved email system, and that these emails were to be subject to supervisory review by a registered principal or company-approved email filtering system,” the AWC Letter states, noting that firm rules also require text messages to be sent through the firm’s approved texting application. In spite of this, it adds, Mr. Reynolds “did not forward his emails or text messages to Pruco for review or retention.” FINRA found that his unapproved messages violated FINRA Rules 4511 and 2010, as well as Exchange Act rules. In connection with these findings, the regulator barred Mr. Reynolds from associating with any FINRA member firm in all capacities.

Mr. Reynolds’ BrokerCheck report discloses one investor complaint. Filed in 2023, it alleged that as a representative of Pruco Securities, he did not disclose all the facts associated with an annuity replacement that was unsuitable for the customer. In June 2024 the complaint reached a settlement of $42,865.27.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Christopher Reynolds holds five years of securities industry experience. Most recently based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, he was registered as a broker with Pruco Securities from 2021 until 2023. He was previously registered with WesBanco Securities in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, from 2017 until 2021. His credentials include the passage of three securities industry qualifying exams: the Investment Company Products/Variable Contracts Representative Examination, or Series 6; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; and the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series 63. He has been barred from acting as a broker. (Information current as of August 19, 2024.)

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