2 Stock Brokers Banned by NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange has permanently barred two San Fernando Valley brokers for violating exchange rules relating to the misappropriation of clients’ money.

Patrick S. Bass, of Sherman Oaks, and Ernest R. Collette, of West Hills, both former brokers, were banned from conducting any business with the exchange or its associates upon action of the NYSE Hearing Board, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

A hearing panel found that Bass, 33, a broker with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith until 1996, misappropriated $26,251 from a customer’s account.

The panel also found that Bass signed a customer’s name without permission to a letter authorizing the transfer of funds and signed another client’s name to one or more checks.

Bass failed to comply with NYSE requests for a written explanation regarding the investigation, therefore violating Exchange Rule 477, according to the Hearing Board.

Collette, 48, who voluntarily resigned from Merrill Lynch in October 1997, was barred because he too failed to answer an exchange request for a written explanation concerning allegations of misconduct.

Several of Collette’s customers alleged that he made misrepresentations about the value of their accounts and gave them false documentation that indicated inflated net asset balances, according to exchange records.

An internal review by his firm also uncovered an unauthorized transfer of $5,000 from Collette into an account of one of his clients, according to the records.

Bass and Collette have not been the subject of any public action by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a spokeswoman for that agency said.

Neither Bass or Collette are currently employed in the securities industry, according to the NYSE.

Neither man could be reached for comment.