Juan Sosa: FINRA Bars Ex-SagePoint Advisor Over Conversion Allegations

Former Studio City, California financial advisor Juan Sosa (CRD# 4059846) has been barred in connection with allegations that he converted customer funds for his own personal use. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records show that he was most recently registered as a broker with Independent Financial Group, doing business as Sosa Financial Strategies

A Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (No. 2022075400501) describes FINRA’s disciplinary action against Mr. Sosa. As it explains, FINRA found that in October 2013, he opened a checking account on behalf of an elderly customer. Using the authority he held over the account, FINRA stated, he transferred “over $579,000” from the customer’s account at SagePoint Financial to the checking out. Then, between April 2017 and November 2018, he used that account “to write over $220,000 in checks to himself, which he then deposited into his personal bank account, and over $110,000 in checks to American Express, which [he] used to pay his personal credit card bill.”

FINRA alleges that he wrote checks for his personal use without the customer’s authorization, effectively engaging in conversion, which is prohibited by FINRA Rule 2150. As the AWC Letter notes, this rule stipulates that persons associated with FINRA member firms shall not “make improper use of a customer’s securities or funds.” Violations of this rule are considered violations of FINRA Rule 2010, which requires brokers to “observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade” in the course of their business. As a result of these findings, FINRA barred Mr. Sosa from associating with any FINRA member in all capacities.

Mr. Sosa’s BrokerCheck report discloses his 2022 resignation from SagePoint Financial. Filed in July 2022, it states that he was “permitted to resign” from the firm in connection with findings that he “had been named as a contingent beneficiary and successor trustee on a client’s living trust document located in the representative’s client file, in violation of Firm policy and procedures.”

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Juan Sosa holds 24 years of securities industry experience. Most recently based in Studio City, California, he was last registered with Independent Financial Group from 2022 until 2023, doing business as Sosa Financial Strategies. His past registrations include SagePoint Financial (Studio City, California; 2005-2022), SunAmerica Securities (Phoenix, Arizona; 2004-2005), and WM Financial Services (Irvine, California; 2000-2004). His credentials include the passage of four securities industry qualifying exams: the General Securities Representative Examination, or Series 7; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series 63; and the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination, or Series 65. He has been barred from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm. (Information current as of March 26, 2024.)

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