August 2021- Lisle, IL
According to publicly available records, Raymond Velasco, Sr., a financial advisor who previously was employed by LPL Financial, discloses a regulatory event , a customer dispute and a termination from employment.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is the agency that licenses and regulates stockbrokers and brokerage firms. FINRA requires brokers and brokerage firms to report customer complaints and disputes as well as regulatory sanctions. In addition brokers are required to disclose certain financial matters such as personal bankruptcies, judgments and liens.
In April of 2021, after FINRA case #2019062922001 was filed, without admitting or denying the findings, Velasco consented to the entry of findings that he submitted to his former member firm four termination letters that falsely represented that his customers were separated from their employment, inducing the firm holding the customer’s retirement accounts into waiving approximately $10,000 in surrender fees. The findings stated that Velasco sought to transfer four SEP IRA accounts holding variable annuities for four customers who all worked for the same business. As part of the transfer, the customers sought to surrender the variable annuities and would therefor incur surrender fees unless of the the several conditions applies, including that the customers had left their employment after five years of issuance of the annuity. To help the customers avoid paying surrender fees, Velasco drafted a termination letter for each customer and submitted the letters to his former firm to facilitate the transfer of the four accounts. The findings stated that Valasco initially gave false on-the-record testimony, however, he corrected his prior testimony and admitted that he falsified the termination letters to help his customers avoid surrender fees. Sanctions are a two year suspension – April of 2021 to April of 2023 – from FINRA in all capacities and a $10,000 fine to be paid by Velasco individually.
In January of 2020, a customer of MetLife Securities, Inc. alleged that Velasco replaced his existing life policy with a new variable universal life policy without his knowledge, stating that the Velasco had him sign forms that he didn’t understand, thereby deceiving him. This case is still pending.
In June of 2019, Valesco was discharged from employment by LPL Financial after allegations of submission of inaccurate retirement plan documents to annuity company resulting in client avoiding surrender fee.
Velasco is currently employed with Kovack Advisors, Inc. as a registered investment advisor (RIA). He was previously employed as an RIA with Opus Wealth Partners in Lisle, IL, from 10/2016-6/2019.
He was previously employed as a registered financial advisor with LPL Financial and MetLife Securities.
If you have losses in an account handled by Raymond Velasco, Sr., call to learn how you may be able to recover damages through FINRA arbitration.
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