FINRA fined Virtu Americas $6,930 for failing to take reasonable steps on 88,500 intermarket sweep orders, filed a complaint against Tory Duggins for refusing testimony in a churning investigation, Hornor Townsend & Kent lost two advisors to newly rebranded L&S Private Wealth, and Morgan Stanley recruited an advisor from LPL across 55 total events.

FINRA Fines Virtu for 88,500 ISO Violations

FINRA fined Virtu Americas, LLC $6,930 for violating Rule 611(c) of Regulation NMS by failing to take reasonable steps to establish that 88,500 intermarket sweep orders routed by the firm met the regulatory requirements between October 2019 and July 2021. ISOs are a critical component of the National Market System's order protection framework — they allow firms to trade through protected quotations on other exchanges, but only if the firm simultaneously routes orders to those exchanges to satisfy their displayed quotes.

The $6,930 fine against one of the world's largest electronic market makers for 88,500 violations works out to less than eight cents per violation — a penalty that some industry observers may view as insufficiently deterrent for a firm of Virtu's scale. Virtu Americas is a subsidiary of Virtu Financial, one of the dominant high-frequency trading firms in global equity markets.

FINRA Files Churning Complaint Against Duggins

FINRA's Department of Enforcement filed a complaint against Tory A. Duggins for failing to provide on-the-record testimony in connection with an investigation into whether Duggins churned and excessively traded customer accounts. Churning — the excessive trading of customer accounts to generate commissions — is one of the most harmful forms of broker misconduct. Duggins' refusal to testify under FINRA Rule 8210 triggered the formal complaint.

HTK Loses Two Advisors to L&S Private Wealth

Hornor, Townsend & Kent, LLC lost two advisors — Anthony Hernandez (CRD 2258923) and Madison Chaney (CRD 6621786) — to L&S Private Wealth, LLC. The dual departure coincides with a name change: Yesak, LLC rebranded to L&S Private Wealth on the same day, suggesting the new firm identity was timed to the advisor recruitments. The coordinated launch-and-recruit strategy is a hallmark of newly formed RIA platforms seeking to build their advisor roster from day one.

Morgan Stanley Recruits From LPL

Morgan Stanley recruited Maya Gervis (CRD 2314649) from LPL Financial — a reverse-flow move from the independent channel to a wirehouse, which runs counter to the industry's dominant trend of wirehouse-to-independent migration. Additional moves included Robert Gardner (CRD 2131726) from Gradient Advisors to IP Financial Advisory Services, William Haskins (CRD 3039102) from RFG Advisory to Arkadios Wealth Advisors, Mark Miller (CRD 1852556) from Kestra Advisory Services to The Ameriflex Group, Christopher Bryant (CRD 6118848) from Crux Wealth Advisors to OneSeven, and Paul Tuomey (CRD 5118327) from Charles Schwab to Schwab Wealth Advisory in an internal restructuring.

FINRA Publishes Four Regulatory Notices

FINRA republished four regulatory notices including Notices 26-02 and 25-05 with additional commentary and updated comment period information, along with its latest disciplinary actions compilation.

11 New Firms, Six Closures

Eleven new advisory firms registered — seven immediately and four entering the 120-day process — while six closed, producing a net gain of five. Five FOCUS reports were filed. Twelve SEC announcements were published, including the SEC seeking candidates for its Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. Two OCC branch closings and one establishment were processed.

All data sourced from FINRA BrokerCheck, SEC EDGAR, OCC, and the Finleet Terminal as of January 21, 2026. Entity profiles are available at terminal.finleet.com.