FINRA Shuts Down California Broker Linked To Online Penny Stock Manipulation Scheme Hot

AIS Financial of Westlake Village, California, has been expelled from the industry for "turning a blind eye" to several customers -- some with known records for securities fraud and money laundering -- who moved billions of very low-priced shares onto its platform and then dumped them at a profit.

FINRA determined that the trades were extraordinarily lucrative for the clients but represented fairly pitiful margins for AIS. One Costa Rica-based client booked about $3 million trading various stocks, but AIS only made $53,000 on the account.

Another group of clients raked in roughly $5 million trading a now-extremely-illiquid bulletin board stock. AIS posted $243,000 in commissions on the trades.

Given the ongoing crackdown on penny stock manipulation throughout the industry, this was perhaps inevitable. Undoubtedly a lot more ahead. 

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