Ameriprise Paying $17.3M to Settle SEC Case

 

Saturday, Jul 11,2009, 10:45:07 AM   Click:

Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. on Friday agreed to pay more than $ 17 million to settle federal regulators charges that he failed to report nearly $ 31 million received for the sale of certain investments to its clients brokerage .

Ameriprise did not admit or deny wrongdoing in its settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Minneapolis-based company, which provides financial planning, asset management and insurance with an emphasis on baby boomers who have $ 100,000 to $ 1 million in assets have agreed to refrain from future violations of securities laws and to pay $ 17.3 million in restitution and civil fines.

According to the SEC, Ameriprise did not disclose compensation for selling certain real estate investment trusts to customers between 2000 and May 2004. REITs own and often operate income-producing real estate or related assets such as office buildings, retail stores and hotels.

The SEC alleged in an administrative proceeding that Ameriprise failed to disclose to investors the roughly $30.8 million it received in connection with sales of the REIT shares and the potential conflicts of interest the payments created.


"Few things are more important to investors than getting unbiased advice from their financial advisers," SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said in a statement. "Ameriprise customers were not informed about the incentives its brokers had to sell these investments."

The SEC also said that Ameriprise sold more than $100 million of shares of one REIT that weren't registered with the agency, a violation of securities laws.