According to FINRA, Brian Edward Reilly was fined $5,000 and suspended for 20 days in all capacities for misrepresenting on a telephone call that he was his customer and providing false information to his member firm.

Reilly's customer wanted to surrender her variable annuity. Reilly placed three calls to the annuity provider to request a blank annuity surrender form. In the first call, Reilly and the customer participated in a three-way call with the provider but were unable to reach the correct department. Later that day, Reilly called again without the customer present. On this second call, Reilly identified himself as the customer and provided the customer's date of birth, social security number, and beneficiary information to convince the provider he was the customer. He then asked the provider to send a blank surrender form to the customer's email address. The provider ended the call and did not send the form.

Reilly then called a third time with the customer on the line to request the surrender form. The annuity provider alerted Reilly's firm about his misrepresentation during the second call. When the firm confronted Reilly during its internal review, he denied misrepresenting himself as the customer, thereby providing false and misleading information to the firm.

Impersonating a customer is a serious violation that undermines the integrity of customer identity verification procedures designed to protect against unauthorized access to account information and transactions. Even though Reilly's stated purpose was merely to obtain a blank form and he had the customer's apparent authorization to assist with the surrender, the impersonation was improper and violated customer privacy protections.

Reilly's subsequent false denial to his firm compounded the misconduct by obstructing the firm's internal investigation. This case demonstrates that registered representatives must act with honesty and integrity in all dealings, including with third-party service providers and in responding to firm inquiries, even when trying to help customers with seemingly routine administrative matters.