FINRA Suspends Advisor Named As Customer Trustee
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law LLC:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has suspended Jimmie Summers for circumventing the procedures at Cetera Financial Group. Summers signed a FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC), in which he consented to a 45-day suspension and $5,000 fine.
In March 2019, Summers “bypassed Cetera’s procedures that prohibited advisors from being named as a trustee, successor trustee, or executor for a firm customer, or from having power of attorney for a firm customer, except when the customer was a member of the representative’s immediate family”, according to FINRA.
Summers was named the successor trustee for a customer’s living trust and named the personal representative of the customer’s estate in the customer’s will. Summers was also appointed power of attorney and medical power of attorney for the customer. The customer was not a member of Summers’ immediate family, according to FINRA. Summers accepted multiple appointments and designations from the 82-year-old Cetera customer, according to FINRA. Summers would have received 90 percent of the trust’s assets upon the customer’s death, FINRA alleged.
Summers was also named the personal representative of the customer’s estate in the senior citizen’s will. Although Summers was also appointed power of attorney and medical power of attorney for the customer, the advisor never acted as the power of attorney or medical power of attorney for the customer.
Summers again circumvented Cetera’s procedures in June 2019. Summers was named the sole beneficiary of an annuity held by a customer, which Cetera’s policies also prohibited according to FINRA.
Summers failed to disclose any of the designations or appointments to Cetera. Through his actions, Summers violated FINRA Rule 2010 governing standards of commercial honor and principles of trade. Recently, FINRA enacted a rule prohibiting advisors from acting as beneficiaries for a customer without their firms’ permission.
Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.
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