This is yet another example of an absence of any relationship between the seriousness of the misconduct of an individual broker and the severity of a penalty. See  for a recent case in which an individual broker, who charged less than $5,000 of personal credit card expenses to his employer, was fined $5,000 and received a six month suspension. The individual in the instant case removed and transferred information that was almost certainly worth more than $5,000 and violated customer…

As previously noted, the fines and other penalties that FINRA imposes on individual representatives seem completely disconnected from the actual harm done.  

In this case, a representative is fined $5,000 and is subject to a six-month suspension for essentially stealing less than $5,000 from his employer, which is (not to excuse the crime) a big institution. A broker was  $2,500 and subject to a four-month suspension for failing to report an outside business activity,…

There is little logic to FINRA's penalties as applied to retail brokers. In the instant case, the employee lied to his employer, now his former employer, and he was punished for it. The $2500 fine is not excessive, though a four-month suspension is not trivial if he hopes to work again. In the broker's favor, or at least arguing for some mercy, it is significant that no customers were harmed.  

On the other hand, compare the fines in cases where there were very material…

If the SEC and the banking regulators had not previously discouraged, or effectively prohibited, regulated broker-dealers and banks from providing custody, the FTX disaster would not have happened at nearly the same level. In that matter, investors custodied with an unregulated entity because the regulators did not allow an obviously preferable alternative.