Zucker became part of Maplewood, N.J.-based RRBB via the merger of his firm Zucker & Associates in October 2011. During merger talks, an RRBB partner cautioned Zucker that they had overlapping clients. RRBB agreed to terminate its roles as auditor for two clients so that Zucker could continue as FinOp and provided Zucker with guidance regarding independence rules.

However in November 2011, the broker dealer hired RRBB as auditor for its 2011 financial statements. Although he did not sign the audit opinion, Zucker was listed on the engagement letter as the audit engagement partner. He was also the relationship and billing partner and RRBB billed the broker-dealer for two hours of his time.

RRBB billed the broker-dealer for the services of the contractor serving as the designated FinOp, The contractor had performed those services for Zucker and split fees. While RRBB decided that same month to stop billing the FinOp because that created the perception that Zucker and RRBB were not independent, the billing continued until March. And during that time, when the contractor when on vacation, Zucker personally performed FinOp services. Late in March 2012, Zucker directed an RRBB staff accountant to perform FinOp work for the broker-dealer.

The broker-dealer filed its audited annual report in April 2012, terminated the relationship with its Designated FinOp and hired the RRBB staff accountant for that role. In May, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority told the broker-dealer it did not consider the audit to have been filed since it had not been performed by an independent public accountant. RRBB resigned the account and the broker-dealer hired another firm to perform an audit.