Former Morgan Stanley Broker Barred by FINRA-Theft from Customer

 Christopher Somes Babcock of Wayne & West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Babcock consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he received approximately $160,000 from customers of his member firms, after he had instructed the customers to wire monies from their firm accounts to their personal bank accounts and to then either wire money to him or write a check payable to him. The findings stated that the money was given to Babcock with the intent that it be used for investment purposes. However, after receiving the funds, Babcock failed to invest the funds as the customers expected. Instead, Babcock converted the funds to his own use and benefit. In some instances, Babcock would deposit the funds in his personal brokerage account or a third party’s personal brokerage account.

The findings also stated that Babcock mailed written account summaries to a customer without either of his firms’ knowledge and review. The firms were thereby prevented from fulfilling supervisory obligations regarding non-electronic business correspondence and from preserving the correspondence in conformance with recordkeeping rules. At least two of the statements forwarded to the customer falsely inflated the value of the customer’s portfolio. ( FINRA Case #2011027329601)

According to FINRA records, Babcock was previously registered as follows:

• Morgan Stanley Smith Barney 6/2009-2/2011
• Citigroup Global Markets 12/2007-6/2009