Voya Financial Advisors - Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce

Nov 7, 2016

Voya Financial to Pay $2.75 Million for Variable Annuity Supervisory Failures

Voya Financial Advisors, Inc. of Des Moines, Iowa submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to adequately supervise the sales of variable annuity L-shares. Voya Financial Advisors (Voya Financial) was subject to a similar FINRA disciplinary action in 2015 which alleged the firm failed to supervise the sales of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). Registered with FINRA since 1968, Voya Financial, f/k/a ING Financial Partners, Inc., currently has 2,779 registered representatives and 1,485 branch offices. FINRA found that from July 2012 to August 2014, Voya failed to establish, maintain, and enforce a supervisory system to identify red flags in the sale of variable annuity L-shares. Further, FINRA found that Voya failed to provide its registered representatives with adequate training and guidance on suitability considerations for these multi-share class variable annuities. According to FINRA, the L-share annuities are a complex investment product that is only suitable for a narrow class of investors and that Voya allegedly failed to provide its advisors with reasonable guidance to discern this class of investor.

Oct 19, 2015

Six Independent Broker Dealers Fined by FINRA for Failing to Give REIT Discounts to Investors

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined six independent broker dealers for failing to give their clients the proper discounts available to them, known as breakpoint discounts, on large sales of certain nontraded REITs. The six firms are Voya Financial Advisors Inc. (Voya), Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. (Transamerica), Investacorp Inc. (Investacorp), J.P. Turner & Co. (J.P. Turner), National Planning Corp. (National Planning), and Cetera Investment Services (Cetera). The fines were levied in July and August and total more than $500,000. Voya and Transamerica were fined the largest amounts: $325,000 for Voya and $85,000 for Transamerica. The other fines levied against Investacorp, J.P. Turner, National Planning, and Cetera were: $50,000, $45,000, $30,000, and $30,000, respectively. All six firms were also ordered to pay restitution.

Jun 29, 2015

Complaint Filed Against Former Voya Financial Advisors Representative for Fraud and Conversions

FINRA filed a complaint against Giovanni Acevedo of Wilton Manors, Florida for allegedly converting client funds for his own personal use. While no longer registered with a firm, Acevedo served as the registered agent, manager and authorized agent for ACE Capital Investments (a Florida liability company) and was the sole owner of ACE between 2010 and 2014. At the time, he was registered with Voya Financial Advisors, also known as ING Financial Partners. FINRA alleges that between January 2009 and March 2014 Acevedo converted $160,000 of customers’ funds for his own personal use. The allegations are that Acevedo recommended at least one client to invest in “ACI Capital Investment” and represented that he would invest the client’s funds via check on her behalf. The client allegedly gave Acevedo a personal check for $68,000 which he was to deposit in ACI Capital Investment. However, Acevedo allegedly changed the payee line to read ACE Capital Investment (his Florida liability company). In addition, Acevedo allegedly created false document for his client that reflected an open balance of $68,000 and a 7.5% semi-annual return or a period of 36 months while those funds were never actually invested.