Amerirprise – Ameriprise Litigation and Arbitration Center

Update: Former Ameriprise Broker Li Lin Hsu Charged With Stealing from Clients

Andrew Stoltmann — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 19:31:02 +0000

Li Lin Hsu, a former Ameriprise broker, was arrested last week on charges of stealing from 11 of her former clients while she was registered with the firm and after she was fired in 2015. She allegedly took money from the clients after finding them through ads in Chinese language newspapers. She used the money to pay personal loans and to buy real estate. Hsu faces three counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of obstruction of justice. She pleaded not guilty and faces 20 years on each fraud count, 10 years on money laundering and five years for obstruction of justice. Hsu was ordered in September to pay Ameriprise $675,000 to cover costs the firm had to pay to one of her former clients.

Li Lin Hsu was previously registered with Ameriprise in Minneapolis, Minnesota from November 2005 until December 2005 and Ameriprise in Los Angeles, California from February 2006 until April 2015. She has three customer disputes against her, alleging losses, and illegally borrowing money from clients, among other things. She has three regulatory matters against her, according to her online, FINRA BrokerCheck report. She has been permanently barred from the industry. Please call us today for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation with one of our attorneys. They are standing by to take your call. You may be able to sue Ameriprise in the arbitration forum if you suffered losses with Li Lin Hsu.

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SEC Slams Ameriprise For Overcharging Retirement Account Customers

Andrew Stoltmann — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 17:36:12 +0000

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently settled charges with Ameriprise. The SEC was charging the firm for recommending and selling higher-fee mutual fund shares to retail retirement account customers and for failing to provide sales charge waivers. The bank allegedly disadvantaged certain retirement account customers by failing to ascertain their eligibility for less expensive mutual fund share classes. The bank sold these customers more expensive mutual fund share classes when less expensive share classes were available. It also failed to disclose it would receive greater compensation from the purchases, and that the purchases would negatively impact the overall return on the customers’ investments. 1,791 customer accounts paid a total of $1,778,592.31 in unnecessary up-front sales charges, contingent deferred sales charges, and higher ongoing fees and expenses as a result of this. If you suffered losses with Ameriprise, please call us today to find out how you may be able to recover those investment losses on a contingency fee basis in the arbitration forum.

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Jack McBride; Farmington Hills, Michigan

Andrew Stoltmann — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 14:25:57 +0000

According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), former Ameriprise broker Jack McBride violated securities laws. He allegedly committed several violations pertaining to customer accounts as follows: he settled a customer complaint without notifying his firm, sent two emails to two customers containing accounts values that he had inflated, and, in connection with non-traditional Exchange Traded Products (ETFs) which were prohibited by the firm, mismarked order tickets as unsolicited when the transactions were in fact solicited. These are all against securities laws. For this he was fined $12,500 and suspended from the industry for 40 calendar days. According to FINRA records, Mr. McBride was previously registered with Ameriprise in West Bloomfield, Michigan from September 1994 until October 2009 and Ameriprise in Farmington Hills, Michigan from October 2009 until August 2014. He is currently registered with Wunderlich Securities in Birmingham, Michigan and has been since August 2014. He has five customer disputes against him.

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Cheryle Brady; Hingham, Massachusetts

Andrew Stoltmann — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 14:24:15 +0000

According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Cheryle Anne Brady violated securities laws. Allegedly, Brady had her assistant place ten trades in nine of her customer’s accounts. These trades were placed without obtaining the customer’s approval. Brady then falsely stated that she had contacted the customers before the trades were placed when she was investigated by her firm, Ameriprise. This is against securities laws and internal firm rules. For this, she was suspended for six months and fined $7,500. According to public records with FINRA, Brady was previously registered with Pioneer Funds, LPL, A.G. Edwards & Sons, UBS, RBC and Ameriprise in Hingham, Massachusetts from January 2012 until October 2016. She has three customer disputes against her, and is currently not registered within the industry.

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Peter Butler; Cambridge, Ohio

Andrew Stoltmann — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 13:57:28 +0000

Peter Butler, a former Ameriprise broker, was terminated by the firm in January of this year over claims alleging selling away and violation of company policy related to disclosure of an outside activity. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) found that Butler reasonably failed to supervise a broker who was employed as a sales associate and office manager. FINRA also found that he failed to detect and prevent the office manager from converting money from a business organization belonging to Butler. FINRA claimed that the office manager “used this control to convert funds from the business in order to pay himself an additional salary and unauthorized commissions, as well as to otherwise take money to which he was not entitled. In addition, funds were converted from firm customers who were also his family members and domestic partner by depositing those funds into the business’ bank account, from which he continued to make unauthorized withdrawals.”

“Selling away” is a term used when a financial advisor solicits investments in companies, promissory notes, or other securities that are not pre-approved by the broker’s affiliated firm. FINRA rules dictate that the firm is obligated to reasonably supervise its brokers, and selling away misconduct typically occurs when brokerage firms either fail to put in place a reasonable supervisory system or fail to actually implement that system. Supervisory failures allow brokers to engaged in unsupervised misconduct that can include all manner improper conduct, including selling away.

Mr. Butler was previously registered with The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Pruco Securities Corp, New England Securities, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, MetLife Securities, Signator Investors and Ameriprise Financial Services in Cambridge, Ohio from March 2010 until February 2017. He has five customer disputes against him, one of which is currently pending. These alleged misrepresentation of variable annuities, and other things. He is currently not registered within the industry, according to his online public records with FINRA.

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Update For Investors: Leon Vaccarelli

Andrew Stoltmann — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 13:35:08 +0000

Stoltmann Law Offices continues to investigate Leon Vaccarelli, who was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of fraudulently inducing elderly investors to invest with him, but instead spent the money on personal expenses. Allegedly, Vaccarelli solicited over $1 million in this scheme between September 2012 and 2017 when he ran a company called Lux Financial Services. In 2015, he was suspended by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for a month for allegations of unauthorized trading. According to his BrokerCheck report with FINRA, he was registered with IDS Life Insurance Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota from August 1999 until July 2006, Ameriprise Financial Services in Middlebury, Connecticut from August 1999 until May 2007, QA3 Financial Corp in Waterbury, Connecticut from May 2007 until February 2011 and The Investment Center in Waterbury from February 2011 until August 2017. He has two customer disputes against him and is currently not registered within the industry. Please call us today if you suffered losses with Mr. Vaccarelli. We may be able to help you bring a claim against The Investment Center in order to reclaim your losses on a contingency fee basis.

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