On Sept. 12, 2023, the National Futures Association (“NFA”) issued decisions against Denver, Colorado-based commodity pool operator Transamerica Asset Management Inc. (“Transamerica”) and its former employee, Quynh Pham Keiser, in a settlement of charges brought by the NFA’s Business Conduct Committee (“BCC”).
In the Keiser decision, the BCC found Keiser willfully submitted materially false or misleading information to the NFA, violating NFA Compliance Rule 2-2(f). In the Transamerica Decision, the BCC found Transamerica failed to diligently supervise the firm’s operations.
On July 27, 2022, Transamerica filed a Form 8-R application with the NFA so Keiser – who had joined the firm in 2017 as the firm’s Director of Compliance Risk Management – could become an associated person (“AP”) and principal of Transamerica. The 8-R application indicated Keiser had taken and passed the Series 3 proficiency examination within the past two years, so the NFA granted Keiser a temporary license (“TL”) as an AP of Transamerica, which allowed Keiser to act as an AP of Transamerica while the NFA finished conducting required background checks and while Keiser completed other required steps. The NFA also approved her as an NFA Associate.
On July 28, 2022, Transamerica sent Keiser’s Series 3 pass certificate to the NFA, and on Aug. 15, 2022, Keiser also sent the NFA a copy of the same certificate. The system that the NFA utilizes to verify Series 3 exam outcomes showed a “Fail” result for Keiser, prompting the NFA to contact FINRA for more information. The NFA obtained the actual exam results from FINRA, showing she had failed the exam, making it apparent that Transamerica and Keiser had each provided an altered Series 3 certificate. In fact, Keiser had failed the exam twice—she also failed on her first attempt in 2020.
The BCC found that Transamerica violated NFA Compliance Rule 2-9(a) by failing to implement an adequate supervisory structure to oversee the firm’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) registration and NFA membership obligations.
Transamerica neither admitted nor denied the allegations made against it, but it agreed to pay a fine of $140,000 to the NFA.
The BCC also found that Keiser willfully submitted materially false or misleading information to NFA, in violation of NFA Compliance Rule 2-2(f), by altering the Series 3 proficiency examination certificate Keiser submitted to NFA in connection with her application for CFTC registration and NFA membership.
Keiser neither admitted nor denied the allegations made against her, but she agreed to not reapply for NFA associate membership, nor apply for NFA membership or principal status with a member, nor act as a principal of a member at any time in the future. Also, pursuant to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Regulation 1.63, Keiser is permanently ineligible to serve on a disciplinary committee, arbitration panel, oversight panel or governing board of any self-regulatory organization.
