March 2024 Update– See this for our investigation of LPL and some of their brokers.
UPDATE Jan 2017– LPL Financial ordered to pay up to $3.7 million in restitution and fines as a result of an investigation into sales of unsuitable variable annuities by former top producer, Roger Zullo.
Original Post –December 2016- Boston, MA
LPL Financial LLC and one of its former brokers Roger S. Zullo were named in an administrative complaint filed by Massachusetts’s securities regulator William Galvin alleging that LPL Financial failed to supervise Zullo who allegedly commited fraud in selling unsuitable variable annuities to retirees. Link to Massachusetts complaint.
According to the Massachusetts complaint:
- Zullo fabricated the financial suitability profiles of numerous LPL clients, selling them scores of large, illiquid, unsuitable, high commission variable annuities, thereby generating large profits for LPL and Zullo, to the detriment of retiree victims.
- Over a three year period Zullo and LPL received over $1.8 million in commissions on the sale of variable annuities, nearly all of which was generated from one annuity product, the Polaris Platinum III (B shares)
- “Zullo’ s greed for commissions at times led him to disregard the well being of his clients. Zullo knew one client personally for more than twenty years – a single, retired healthcare worker, with no financial sophistication, no assets at her disposal except those in Zullo’s hands, and no nearby family to assist her financially. In 2008, Zullo sold the client a variable annuity, which thereafter generated income payments that the client relied on as her primary source of income. In 2015, with the client past the age of 80 and experiencing cognitive impairment, and with the client seeking out assisted living arrangements, Zullo had the client meet him at a subway station near his office to sign paperwork for a switch into a new variable annuity with a fresh, seven-year surrender schedule. The switch was unnecessary, unsuitable, and unwanted; cost the client $1,391.03 in surrender charges; and deprived the client of income she relied on to pay for the basic costs of living.”
Zullo was discharged by LPL Financial in 12/2016 following the filing of the Massachusetts complaint.
If you have questions about an annuity, including Polaris Platinum III, you purchased from LPL Financial, call to learn about options for recovery of damages.
Rex Securities Law , with offices in Boca Raton, FL, and Austin, TX, provides representation to investors nationwide who are seeking recovery of investment losses due to the negligence or fraud of stockbrokers and broker dealers. If you have questions about how your account has been handled, call to speak with an experienced securities attorney.
Most cases handled on a contingent fee basis meaning that you do not pay legal fees unless we are successful.
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