Stoltmann Law Offices is investigating Jeffrey L. Ritterberger, who entered into a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Ritterberger, while registered with The Huntington National Bank, was accused of participating in the recommendations of purchases of municipal unit investment trusts (UITs) totaling approximately $198,000 to five customers. He failed to conduct due diligence of the UITs prior to recommending them to customers. A broker has a duty to take into account a customer’s age, net worth, portfolio, and investment objectives, among other things, before recommending the purchase of securities. If he does not, his firm can be held liable for investment losses. A UIT is an investment company that offers a fixed, unmanaged portfolio, generally of stocks and bonds as redeemable “units” to investors for a specific period of time. It is designed to provide capital appreciation and/or dividend income. It can be risky and is not suitable for all investors.
Ritterberger was supposed to complete an initial customer profile and complete paperwork before selling the security to a customer. Ritterberger allegedly did neither of those things in this instance. The specified termination date for the given UIT, in this case, did not match the maturity dates of the underlying municipal bonds held in the customer’s portfolios. These transgressions occurred between December 2012 and February 2013 of this year in the Zanesville, Ohio branch of The Huntington National Bank. For this, he was fined $10,000 and suspended from the industry for 45 calendar days.
If you or someone you know invested and lost money with Jeffrey L. Ritterberger, please call our securities law firm in Chicago, Illinois. You will be able to speak to an attorney about your options of suing The Huntington National Bank for not reasonably supervising Ritterberger. The call is free with no obligation. We sue banks in the FINRA arbitration process.
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