Wells Fargo Rep Richard White Barred From Industry

According to a recent Financial Planning article, Richard White, a former Wells Fargo representative was expelled from the industry for depositing his gambling winnings in a way the deliberately skirted federal reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) accused White of unlawfully “structuring” a total of $77,560 that he won on gambling trips to Las Vegas by depositing the cash into his bank accounts in amounts just below $10,000 reporting threshold. Under the Act, broker-dealers are required to file currency transaction reports for all transactions exceeding $10,000, the hearing panel explained in its decision. Several times the broker deposited just under that amount and made multiple deposits below $10,000 over the course of several days or weeks. FINRA also accused him of concealing what he was doing by splitting deposits aggregating more than $10,000 into smaller deposits at two different financial institutions so that neither would recognize that the report should have been made. This is against securities laws and internal firm rules.
According to FINRA records, Mr. White was previously registered with First Union Capital Markets in Charlotte, North Carolina from December 1998 until October 1999, First Union Securities in St. Louis, Missouri from October 1999 until August 2000, Wachovia Securities in St. Louis from March 2002 until July 2003, Wells Fargo in Charlotte from October 2009 until July 2010 and Wells Fargo in Charlotte from July 2003 until April 2015. He has one regulatory matter pending against him and is not currently registered as a broker.