Feltl & Company Fined for Failing to Apply Sales-Charge Discounts to UIT Customers

Feltl & Company (Feltl) of Minneapolis, Minnesota submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Department of Enforcement for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly failing to apply sales-charge discounts to certain customers’ eligible purchases of unit investment trusts (UITs) and for failing to establish, maintain, and enforce a proper supervisory system. Feltl has been registered with FINRA and the NASD since 1975 and has faced three similar FINRA disciplinary actions in the past. UITs are generally issued by a firm representative that assembles the UIT’s portfolio of securities, deposits the securities in a trust, and sells units of the UIT in a public offering. UIT units are redeemable securities that are issued for a specific term, and entitle an investor to receive his or her proportionate share of the UIT’s net assets on redemption or at termination.

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Tampa Firm Fined $175,000 and Ordered to Pay Over $400,000 in Restitution for Supervisory Failures

INVEST Financial Corporation (IFC) of Tampa, Florida submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Department of Enforcement for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for alleged supervisory failures in connection with Unit Investment Trust (UIT) transactions with its customers. A UIT is generally a portfolio of redeemable securities (units) that can contain several different types of securities with a specified lifetime. The most common of these securities are stock and bond trusts. UITs are created with a definite life and are a fixed portfolio of securities. This makes UITs different from a mutual fund that allows its securities to be bought and sold in perpetuity.  Sales charge discounts are often offered to customers who periodically reinvest in a UIT which is also known as a rollover. The UIT sponsor can also offer “breakpoints” which distribute sales charge discounts depending on the amount invested.

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Lincoln Financial Advisors Fined for Supervisory System Failures

Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation (LFA) of Fort Wayne, Indiana submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly failing to implement and enforce reasonable supervisory procedures related to the recommendation of private placement variable annuities (PPVA).  LFA has been a FINRA member since 1969 and has nearly 2,500 registered representatives and over 500 branch offices. FINRA found that between October 2008 and April 2009, representatives from two of LFA’s branch offices recommended customers to invest in a hedge fund that engaged in a complex option trading strategy. FINRA alleged that the complexity of the hedge fund exposed the LFA clients to a high degree of financial risk. LFA however approved the recommendations and 25 firm customers invested approximately $11.7 million in the hedge fund. In 2010, the hedge fund was shut down.

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LPL Financial Fined for Trade Order and Execution Violations

The Department of Market Regulation of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) received a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) from LPL Financial LLC (LPL Financial) for allegedly failing to execute several trade orders fully and promptly, reporting improper data and failing to properly supervise. The Department of Market Regulation conducted two reviews of LPL Financial in 2012 to examine its trading and reporting methods. During its Trading and Market Making Surveillance (TMMS) review, FINRA found that in four instances, LPL Financial failed to execute orders fully and promptly. During the review, FINRA also found that LPL Financial transmitted to OATS eights reports that contained inaccurate, incomplete, or improperly formatted data. Additionally, the TMMS review found that LPL Financial failed to transmit two Reportable Order Events to OATS and failed to show the correct order receipt time on the memorandum of ten brokerage firms.

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LPL Financial Ordered to Pay $6.3 Million in Restitution for Supervision Failures

FINRA censured and ordered LPL Financial LLC (LPL Financial) to pay $6.3 million for failures related to sales charge waivers. LPL Financial submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for the alleged widespread supervisory failures. LPL Financial is a brokerage and investment advisory firm with a principal place of business in Boston, Massachusetts. LPL Financial has been conducting securities business related activities since 1973. LPL Financial has over eighteen thousand registered representatives operating from nearly eleven thousand branch office locations.

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Merrion Securities of New Jersey Fined by FINRA for Violating the Exchange Act

Merrion Securities, LLC (Merrion) of Westfield, New Jersey Submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly failing to properly establish an escrow account for investor funds. Organized as a Limited Liability company and FINRA member since 1992, Merrion focuses primarily on general securities transactions with approximately 117 registered representatives within one branch office.

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LPL Financial Fined for Failing to Comply with MSRB and TRACE Requirements

The Department of Market Regulation of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) received a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) from LPL Financial LLC (LPL Financial) for allegedly failing to report securities transactions and failing to show the correct time of execution of several brokerage orders. The Department of Market Regulation conducted two reviews on LPL Financial in 2010 regarding the firm’s compliance with Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) and Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) requirements.

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