Morgan Stanley Broker Kenneth Mathieson Suspended and Fined by FINRA

According to a Decision heard before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), former Morgan Stanley broker Kenneth Mathieson was suspended for one year in all capacities and fined $50,000 for participating in private securities transactions and engaging in outside business activities without prior written notice to, and permission from, Morgan Stanley. FINRA also found that he submitted a false compliance questionnaire to the firm. In 2013, Morgan Stanley found that Mathieson had engaged in certain activities in connection with a company running an online education business, Aspen University, a private, for-profit school offering online degrees. He also personally invested in Aspen, up to a total of $66,000. He also made purchases in Aspen for his children totaling $30,550, and did not provide Morgan Stanley with notice of this. Mathieson expected to join Aspen’s board of directors and to receive stock options in the company because of his involvement with it. Shortly after Morgan Stanley found this, Mathieson was suspended and then terminated. This was against securities laws and internal firm rules. A broker must not engage in outside business activities.
Kenneth Mathieson, according to his online, public BrokerCheck report with FINRA, was previously registered with Prudential Securities Inc. in New York, New York from September 1987 until November 1999, Citigroup Global Markets in New York from November 1999 until June 2009, Morgan Stanley in New York from June 2009 until April 2014 and Raymond James in New York from June 2014 until March 2017. He is currently registered with Laidlaw & Company in New York, and has been since February 2017. He has two customer disputes against him, alleging that he falsely and fraudulently induced claimants to hold on to positions they would have otherwise have sold, breach of fiduciary duty, and failure to supervise, and that he was involved in illegal activities involving a customer’s account including unauthorized trading.
Please call our securities law offices in Chicago today if you suffered losses with Kenneth Mathieson. You may be able to bring a claim against Morgan Stanley on a contingency fee basis in the FINRA arbitration forum. Attorneys are standing by to take your call and there is no obligation with it.