Ameriprise Financial Unit Ordered to Pay More Than $2 Million to Client's Estate -- Wealth Management Journal
January 20 2016 - 6:35PM
Dow Jones News
By Anna Prior
An arbitration panel ordered a unit of Ameriprise Financial Inc.
to pay more than $2 million to the estate of a deceased Virginia
woman for losses tied to misdeeds by a former Ameriprise
broker.
The executor of the estate of Glenny B. White had accused
Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. of failing to supervise a broker
in the firm's Virginia Beach, Va., branch who admitted in federal
court in 2014 to stealing from Ms. White and four other clients,
according to an arbitration claim with the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority and court documents.
Ms. White, who died at the age of 91 in 2014, had been a client
of former broker Jeffrey Davis for nearly a decade before learning
in 2013 that Mr. Davis had been stealing from her for over a year,
said Ed Spivey, a Norfolk, Va., attorney who represented Ms.
White's estate in the arbitration claim.
Mr. Davis was fired from Ameriprise and barred from the
brokerage industry by Finra in 2013, according to Finra's
BrokerCheck website.
In 2014, in federal court in Norfolk, he pleaded guilty to wire
fraud, admitting that he stole nearly $200,000 from five clients,
including Ms. White, according to court documents. Last year, he
was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison, the documents say.
In at least two cases involving clients of Mr. Davis, Ameriprise
reported the misappropriation of client funds to Finra, according
to Mr. Davis's BrokerCheck report. The report notes both clients
received settlements covering the alleged damages.
A spokesman for Ameriprise noted that in the case of Ms. White,
the firm "identified the matter and promptly reimbursed the
client."
In the latest development, the arbitration panel awarded Ms.
White's estate $500,000 in damages, along with $1.5 million in
punitive damages and more than $36,800 in sanctions, which include
certain attorney's fees, according to the award posted on Finra's
website. The estate had sought $1 million in damages and $1.5
million in punitive damages, plus other amounts.
As is customary, the Finra arbitrators didn't provide details on
the reasoning for their decision, which was dated Tuesday.
The Ameriprise spokesman said the firm strongly disagrees with
the panel's decision stating that it is "unsupported by the facts
and the law." The firm said it is planning to take future legal
steps to challenge the award.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 20, 2016 19:20 ET (00:20 GMT)
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