FINRA Suspends Ex-LPL Financial Rep William Schnepp

Former Brookfield, Wisconsin broker/adviser William Schnepp (CRD# 1854941) was recently sanctioned by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in connection to allegations he accepted power of attorney over an unrelated client without firm approval or knowledge. Previously a representative of LPL Financial, Schnepp was issued a two-month suspension and a fine of $5,000.

According to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (No. 2018059902901) dated October 2019, William Schnepp was registered as a General Securities Representative and a Variable Contracts Products Representative with LPL Financial from January 2015 until April 2018, when the firm disclosed it terminated his employment the previous month. According to FINRA, in January 2018 Schnepp “deliberately circumvented” firm policies and procedures requiring its representatives to seek and receive firm approval before accepting power of attorney over firm customers, and prohibiting representatives from serving in such a role over people who are not their family members. FINRA states specifically that Schnepp accepted power of attorney over a 90-year-old firm customer to whom he was not related. According to FINRA, this gave him the ability “to deposit money with any bank or broker, buy and sell securities, receive dividends, interest, and other amounts due, buy, sell, and lease real property and vehicles, borrow money, make decisions concerning insurance, including health insurance and Social Security, pay taxes, make gifts, litigate, and conduct banking” on behalf of the customer. He allegedly served as the customer’s power of attorney, unbeknownst to his firm, for about three months, despite firm procedures forbidding representatives from acting as power of attorney over non-family members. As a result of the foregoing conduct, he was suspended from associating with any FINRA member in any capacity for two months. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $5,000.

William Schnepp is currently not registered with any FINRA member firm. His previous registrations include LPL Financial, MML Investors Services, and New England Securities, all in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He has passed five securities industry qualifying examinations and currently holds no state securities licenses. (Information current as of April 19, 2020.)