TD Ameritrade

Investor Pursues $500K GPB Capital Claim Against TD Ameritrade

Published on: November 26, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

GPB Private Placements Were Sold Through Brokerage Firm’s AdvisorDirect® Service

An investor recently filed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against broker-dealer TD Ameritrade over losses sustained in GPB investments. The private placements from GPB Capital Holdings were recommended by an investment advisor via the TD Ameritrade AdvisorDirect® Referral Program.

GPB Capital Holdings LLC is accused of operating an over $1.7B Ponzi scam that defrauded over 17,000 investors. The claimant is seeking $500K in damages.

Aequitas Ponzi Fraud Case Results in $234.6M Settlement

Published on: July 16, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Investors who lost money after investing in Aequitas Management LLC, which is accused of running a $350M Ponzi scam, have arrived at a $234M settlement in their fraud case against EisnerAmp LLP, Deloitte & Touche LLP, TD Ameritrade, Duff & Phelps, Sidley Austin LLP, Integrity Bank and Trust of Colorado, and Tonkon Torp. The defendants are accused of playing a part in the plaintiff’s losses because of their purported involvement in the sale of Aequitas securities.

More than 1,500 investors collectively invested over $350M in Aequitas securities while thinking that they were backing trade receivables in healthcare, education, transportation, and other areas. This investor fraud case, Ciuffitelli et al v. Deloitte & Touche LLP et al, was brought as a proposed class action and filed over three years ago by claimants in Oregon and California.

Based on a complaint brought also in 2016 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Aequitas is accused of misleading investors about the extent their money became involved in for-profit education company Corinthian Colleges, which filed for bankruptcy in 2015. The regulator accused Aequitas of becoming a Ponzi scam after Corinthian failed, with the company continuing to sell securities for the purposes of paying back earlier investors and to support its executives’ expensive lifestyles.

TD Ameritrade Fined $500K For Not Reporting Investment Advisers’ Suspect Activities

Published on: September 26, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is ordering TD Ameritrade Inc. (AMTD) to pay a $500K fine for not submitting mandatory suspicious activity reports (SARs) even after the broker-dealer stopped doing business with 111 independent investment advisers. The regulator contends that between 2013 and September 2015, the firm ended its business relationships with these advisers, who were not TD Ameritrade employees, due to what it found to be “unacceptable business, credit, operational, reputational or regulatory risk” to itself or customers.

While the brokerage firm did submit a number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding suspect transactions made by some of these advisers it had fired, it did not submit SARs reports on some of the other advisers with whom TD Ameritrade had also ended their business relationships.

The suspect activities at issue allegedly included suspicious trading—including moving losses from trade errors to clients—inappropriate money transfers, and making false and misleading statements to customers while serving as an investment adviser managing their TD Ameritrade accounts.