Finra bars ex-Wells Fargo broker previously charged with fraud
A former Wells Fargo Advisor broker in Salt Lake City was barred from the securities industry yesterday for not turning over information and documents that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. wanted in its investigation of the broker, Louis Goff.
The Securities and Exchange Commission in September charged Goff, 46, and five other individuals in a complaint with raising $2.1 million from dozens of investors in a fraud from 2019 and 2020 based on investment funds that would generate guaranteed profits from a high-yielding foreign currency, or Forex, trading program, according to Goff’s BrokerCheck report. Finra’s review of the SEC complaint spurred its attempt to investigate Goff.
Goff was registered with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, which does business as Wells Fargo Advisors, from 2011 through this October, according to his BrokerCheck report. An attorney for Goff in the SEC matter, Chris Andrus, did not return a call Thursday morning to comment.
Goff agreed to the Finra bar without admitting or denying its findings. After the SEC filed its complaint in September in federal court in Salt Lake, Goff entered a consent agreement with the court, agreeing to a $60,000 civil penalty and to not sell securities.
A spokesperson for Wells Fargo declined to comment.
“When investors think about Forex investing, they believe it’s an invitation to play in an institutional market and invest in a way that high-net-worth people do,” said Scott Silver, a plaintiff’s attorney. “It’s supposed to be a path to riches. Plus, there’s the opportunity to use leverage and make money from others people money.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on its website said it has seen a sharp rise in Forex trading scams in recent
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