Update For Investors: Larry Boggs and Ameriprise

According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Larry Boggs allegedly engaged in excessive and unsuitable trading in the accounts of five customer households. He also allegedly changed the investment objectives and risk tolerance for several customers in order that they would conform to his high-frequency trading strategy, even though the customers’ investment objectives and risk tolerance had not changed. These are against securities laws. Excessive trading, also referred to as “churning,” is when a broker trades in and out of a security in order to generate large commissions for himself. This typically leads to the customer having to pay unnecessary fees. It is a particularly egregious violation of securities laws and internal firm rules. At the time of the misconduct, which was between January 2014 and May 2015, Boggs was registered with Ameriprise. He was permanently barred from the industry.

Brokerage firms such as Ameriprise have an obligation to reasonably supervise their employees to make sure they do not violate securities laws and internal firm rules. If the firm does not do so, it can be held liable for losses on a contingency fee basis in the FINRA arbitration forum. Mr. Boggs, according to FINRA, was previously registered with Merrill Lynch, Prudential Securities, Wells Fargo, Ameriprise Advisor Services in Richardson, Texas from July 2009 until October 2009, Ameriprise Financial Services in Dallas, Texas from October 2009 until May 2015 and Wedbush Securities in Dallas from May 2015 until July 2016. He is not currently registered as a broker within the industry.