MetLife Securities - Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce

May 15, 2018

Former MetLife Securities Broker Named in FINRA Complaint Alleging Improper Control over 81-Year-Old Client’s Finances

Peter Orlando, a Barrington, Rhode Island-based registered representative formerly employed with MetLife Securities, Inc., n/k/a MML Investors Services LLC, was named a Respondent in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) complaint alleging that he failed to disclose that an elderly customer had designated him as account beneficiary of the customer’s will and bank account. According to FINRA’s complaint, Peter Orlando used his position of trust with his client, an 81-year-old widow, to obtain durable power of attorney, health power of attorney, designation as the executor and primary beneficiary of the customer’s will, and beneficiary of the customer’s bank account. Mr. Orlando failed to disclose the arrangements to his member firm, which prohibited its representatives from serving in a fiduciary capacity or being named as an account beneficiary for anyone other than family members.

Sep 8, 2017

MetLife Securities Broker Suspended by FINRA for Impersonating Customer for Wire Transfer

Jose Perez, a representative formerly employed with MetLife Securities, Inc. (MetLife), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he directed his assistant to impersonate his customer, while he impersonated the customer’s brother, in order to effect a transfer of funds. FINRA’s findings state that while employed by MetLife Securities, Jose J. Perez, of Orland Park, Illinois, was advised that his customer was retiring and asked that he transfer pension funds held by a third-party company to her MetLife account. In an attempt to accommodate the customer’s request, Mr. Perez and his assistant telephoned the third-party company and, instead of using their real names, Mr. Perez allegedly impersonated the customer’s brother and his assistant allegedly impersonated the customer. According to FINRA, Mr. Perez and his assistant directed the third-party company to transfer funds to the MetLife account, but failed to realize that the customer held two retirement accounts with the company. Consequently, the funds transferred were funds from the customer’s 401(k) account rather than the pension account.

Oct 21, 2016

MetLife and Pruco Securities Broker Barred by FINRA for Misrepresentations in Connection with Variable Annuities

Winston Turner, a former broker at Pruco Securities LLC, and MetLife Securities, Inc., was permanently barred from acting as a broker or associating with firms that sell securities to the public by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) due to findings that he made fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions in connection with variable annuity investments. FINRA found that Winston Turner, of Tampa, Florida, induced three customers to purchase securities by intentionally making misstatements regarding the earnings to be generated by their variable annuities. According to FINRA, Mr. Turner falsely told three customers that their variable annuity investments would earn a “guaranteed” minimum annual interest and misrepresented to a customer the tax implications of her variable annuity purchase. FINRA also found that Mr. Turner attempted to circumvent his member firm’s supervisory system by misrepresenting the source of funds in connections with variable annuity applications. Further, Mr. Turner misrepresented to his firm his personal email address as the email address of his customers in order to ensure that the customers were not contacted.

Oct 12, 2016

Signator Investors Broker Suspended by FINRA for Allegedly Forging Customer Signature

Thomas Vigil, a General Securities Representative formerly employed with the Warwick, Rhode Island branch of Signator Investors, Inc. (Signator) and the Westboro, Massachusetts branch of MetLife Securities, Inc. (MetLife), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in which he consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that he impersonated a customer to obtain an annuity surrender form, falsified account documents, and forged a customer’s signature all without the customers’ knowledge or consent. Mr. Vigil consented to the sanctions described below. FINRA’s findings state that while employed by Signator, Thomas A. Vigil, of Saunderstown, Rhode Island, falsified a 403(b) rollover form for one of his customers by whiting out the date from an earlier, validly signed form and writing in the current date. Mr. Vigil allegedly did this without the customer’s knowledge or consent. Furthermore, Mr. Vigil allegedly forged the signature of another customer on a change of broker-dealer form without the customer’s knowledge or consent. In both instances, FINRA found that Mr. Vigil, when asked about the falsified documents, initially denied the actions, but later acknowledged the misconduct. FINRA also found that while employed by MetLife Securities, Mr. Vigil impersonated a customer on a call to an insurance company to obtain an annuity surrender form.

Jun 16, 2016

Investor Alert – FINRA is Scrutinizing Variable Annuity Sales and You Should Too!

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is scrutinizing the sales of variable annuities, noting that they are complex products typically marketed to seniors. This follows a record fine of $25 million FINRA slammed MetLife Securities, Inc. (MetLife) with for negligent misrepresentations and omissions of fact regarding the costs and guarantees relating to variable annuities and variable annuity replacements. At a recent Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) conference, FINRA associate vice president and enforcement chief counsel James Day stated that variable annuities “… are at the sweet spot of complex products marketed to retirees and people about to retire.” Also noted at the IRI conference as a specific area of FINRA’s scrutiny were L-share variable annuities. These products offer increased liquidity and a shorter surrender-penalty period, typically three years rather than seven.

May 11, 2016

FINRA Slams MetLife with $25 Million Fine for Misrepresenting Variable Annuities

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) slammed MetLife Securities, Inc. (MetLife) with a $25 million fine for negligent misrepresentations and omissions to customers regarding the costs and guarantees relating to variable annuities. MetLife agreed to the fine, which includes a $20 million fine and $5 million to be paid to customers, without admitting or denying FINRA’s findings. From approximately 2009 to 2014, FINRA found that MetLife falsely told customers that new variable annuities were less costly than the annuities they were replacing. Further, MetLife made the replacement annuities appear more beneficial to the customer when they were typically more expensive. According to FINRA, MetLife sold at least 43 billion in variable annuities which generated $152 million in gross dealer commissions for the firm. Nonetheless, MetLife failed to supervise its registered representatives to ensure they were property trained and informed of the comparative analysis between the variable annuities and the recommended replacement annuities. In fact, FINRA found that MetLife principals approved 99.79% of the variable annuity replacements, even though three-quarters (3/4) of the replacement applications contained at least one misrepresentation or omission.

Oct 23, 2015

12 More Independent Broker Dealers Fined by FINRA for Failing to Give UIT Discounts to Investors

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined a dozen independent broker-dealers (IBDs) for failing to give their clients the proper discounts available to them, known as breakpoint discounts, on sales of unit investment trusts (UITs). They were also cited for related supervisory failures. Some of the biggest fines were levied against First Allied Securities Inc. (First Allied), Fifth Third Securities Inc. (Fifth Third), Securities America Inc. (Securities America), Cetera Advisors LLC (Cetera Advisors), and Park Avenue Securities LLC (Park Avenue). FINRA ordered the 12 firms to pay both fines and restitution totaling $6.7 million. The other firms sanctioned were: Commonwealth Financial Network (Commonwealth Financial), MetLife Securities Inc. (MetLife), Comerica Securities (Comerica), Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Ameritas Investment Corp. (Ameritas), Infinex Investments Inc. (Infinex), and The Huntington Investment Company (Huntington Investment).