Cantor Fitzgerald Fined, Kessler Suspended in Microcap Case
- Firm fined $6 million by Finra, must repay $1.3 million
- Kessler, Ludovico suspended and fined for their roles
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Cantor Fitzgerald LP, the trading firm run by Howard Lutnick, was fined $6 million over regulatory claims it sold unregistered microcap stocks and lacked an adequate anti-money-laundering program to detect the transactions.
Cantor, which was also ordered to repay $1.3 million in commissions and interest, executed transactions or delivered securities involving billions of shares of the smallest tradeable securities between 2011 and 2012, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Monday in a statement. Jared Kessler, Cantor Fitzgerald’s former head of U.S. equities who stepped down last week, and stock trader Joseph Ludovico were suspended and fined for their roles, Finra said.