it filed an inaccurate FOCUS report and failed to maintain sufficient net capital while conducting a securities business.
International Securities Corporation (CRD #36023, New York, New York) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $2,500, jointly and severally, and fined an additional $12,000. Without admitting or denying the allegations, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that, acting through an individual, it filed an inaccurate FOCUS report and failed to maintain sufficient net capital while conducting a securities business. The findings also stated that the firm failed to utilize the services of an independent public accountant to audit its year-end fiscal reports filed with the NASD. Furthermore, the NASD found that the firm failed to report to ACT transactions within 90 seconds of execution and failed to designate transactions as late. In addition, the NASD found that the firm failed to correctly report to ACT whether it acted as a principal or as an agent in transactions and failed to establish a Continuing Education Program (Firm Element) for its registered employees. (NASD Case #C10010088) Pond Equities, Inc. (CRD #30934, Brooklyn, New York) and Ezra Yehuda Birnbaum (CRD #1553347, Registered Principal, Brooklyn, New York) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in which they were censured and fined $10,000, jointly and severally. The firm was also fined an additional $7,000. Without admitting or denying the allegations, the respondents consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that the firm, acting through Birnbaum, failed to enforce its written supervisory procedures in that it could not provide evidence that when customers made checks payable to the firm, the firm informed the customers in writing of the requirement to make checks payable to the clearing firm in the future. The findings also stated that the firm failed to show the correct time of execution on the order memoranda in transactions. In addition, the NASD found that the firm executed short sale transactions in Nasdaq National Market® (NNM) securities and failed to report the transactions to Automated Confirmation Transaction ServiceSM (ACTSM). with a short sale modifier. Furthermore, the findings stated that the firm, acting through Birnbaum, failed to report customer complaints to the NASD as part of the Statistical and Summary Reporting requirement. (NASD Case #C10010081) nasdr.com
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