← Broker database 2026-03-19
Avinesh K. Shankar Barred for Forging Customer Signatures to Collect Over $511,000 in Unauthorized Commissions
According to FINRA, Avinesh K. Shankar (CRD #6232970) of Sacramento, California, was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities after FINRA found he converted funds from his member firm by intentionally forging customer signatures on annuity applications and submitting them to the firm in order to receive advanced commission payments.
An Order Accepting Offer of Settlement was issued on March 19, 2026. FINRA found that Shankar forged the signatures of customers on annuity applications without the customers' prior knowledge or consent. He submitted these forged applications to his firm to generate advanced commission payments for the associated annuities. Based on the fraudulent applications, the firm paid Shankar advanced commissions totaling $511,609.74 — commissions to which he was not entitled because the annuities were never actually funded by the customers.
Forgery of customer signatures in the securities industry is a form of conversion — the unauthorized taking of another person's property — and represents one of the most serious categories of misconduct that FINRA addresses. In this case, the fraud was directed not only at the firm but also at the customers whose identities and signatures were misappropriated without their knowledge or consent.
The use of advanced commission payments as the mechanism for this fraud is particularly noteworthy. Advanced commissions are paid by firms to brokers before the underlying investment product generates the expected revenue, representing a firm's advance against future earnings. By submitting forged applications for products that were never funded, Shankar exploited this payment structure to misappropriate firm funds while leaving customers' names attached to investment products they never authorized.
This case is a reminder that investors should carefully review all documents associated with any financial product before signing, and should be skeptical of any request to sign blank forms or documents without fully understanding their purpose. Investors who discover that signatures were placed on documents without their knowledge should immediately contact their firm's compliance department and report the matter to FINRA.