"Self-policing" in the financial industry
http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/for-skimming-13-million-2-baird-workers-quietly-fired-never-charged-b99426077z1-288942981.html
For skimming $1.3 million, 2 Baird workers quietly fired, never charged
Some embezzlers who get caught go to prison, serve years of probation or at least must pay the money back. But for embezzling $1.3 million from R.W. Baird & Co., a pair of former employees who administered the company's payroll only got fired and barred from ever working in the securities industry again.
That's according to the discipline imposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, a private organization made of up member securities firms. FINRA primarily acts as a self-policing agency, most often settling disputes between customers and stockbrokers, or between brokerage firms, and sometimes enforcing big fines against rule breakers. But it can also serve as a quiet mechanism for imposing at least some sanctions on workers who rip off their own companies.
The former Baird employees, Rochelle Maureen Matthews and Linda Whitmore, each signed letters of "acceptance, waiver and consent" with FINRA last year. The agency announced summaries of the actions in monthly FINRA discipline newsletters in April and May, about 18 months after Baird discovered the embezzlement.
The letters say neither woman admits or denies the findings, but accepts them for the purpose of the proceedings — "without an adjudication of any issue of law or fact." The FINRA orders do not indicate any fine imposed or restitution required.
