A former Merrill Lynch broker who managed as much as $1 billion has been suspended and fined by Wall Street’s watchdog, in part for violating anti-money laundering rules by not telling the firm about potentially suspicious funds transfers involving clients’ accounts, according to a settlement…
Chaturvedi, a 17-year veteran of Merrill Lynch, managed 300 accounts with assets totaling between about $500 million to $1 billion, according to FINRA. His customers, mostly Indian nationals who resided in India and the United States, included prominent business people, doctors and other professionals, FINRA said.
Chaturvedi helped clients set up off-shore trust accounts under corporate names, or confidential “numbered accounts” that did not reveal their names and addresses. Such strategies can be red flags for possible money laundering and tax avoidance, compliance professionals say.
The conduct, which occurred between 2001 and 2009, also involved falsifying documents, according to FINRA. In 2001, Chaturvedi set up a $2-million offshore trust for a professor who lived in India, according to FINRA. The professor died in 2002, but in 2003, Chaturvedi completed paperwork about the trust account for Merrill’s anti-money laundering program, suggesting that he was in touch with the professor, FINRA said.
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