2 Former O.C. Brokers Fined by Regulators

Securities regulators, in disciplinary actions this month, fined two former Orange County brokers a total of $112,000 and barred one from the industry and suspended the other for two years.

The National Assn. of Securities Dealers, which regulates brokers, suspended Daniel C. Montano, 49, of Orange, and fined him $102,500 for actions stemming from his company’s promises to sponsor prospective brokers.

In a second case, NASD barred Benjamin A. Chacon, 45, of Dana Point and fined him $10,145.74 for allegedly causing the surrender of a client’s additional life insurance.

Neither Montano nor Chacon could be reached for comment.

In Montano’s case, the securities regulator alleged that he used Montano Securities Corp. to collect registration and examination fees from hundreds of individuals seeking to become brokers. He then failed to forward the fees to NASD to cover the testing and failed to refund the money, the agency alleged.

Montano, who has been disciplined twice previously, did not admit any wrongdoing in settling the case.

In previous disciplinary cases, he was found to have violated advertising rules, a finding he is appealing, and was ordered to cease and desist from causing materially false and misleading statements to be made in promotional materials used in the sale of securities.

Montano put his 10-year-old firm in bankruptcy in December 1994 amid an ownership dispute, and the petition was dismissed in mid-1995. At one time, the company had nine offices and 900 brokers nationwide.

NASD said he hasn’t been working as a broker.

In Chacon’s case, the NASD alleged that in 1994, he forged a client’s signature on a life insurance check without the client’s knowledge or consent.

He used part of the proceeds, again without the client’s knowledge or consent, to pay for another policy so that he could collect a commission, the regulator alleged.

He hasn’t worked as a broker since August 1995, NASD said.