LPL Settles with Tennessee Over Improper Sales of Non-Traded REITs
The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance’s Securities Division recently signed a final consent order with LPL Financial in connection with an investigation of LPL’s failure to implement an adequate supervisory system regarding its sale of non-traded Real Estate Investment Trusts and its failure to enforce its written procedures regarding the sale of non-traded REITS.
Under the terms of the order, Boston-based LPL agreed to remediate losses for all non-traded REITS sold by the firm from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2013 in violation of prospectus standards, state concentration limits or LPL’s own guidelines.
LPL agreed to retain an independent third party to review and verify its executed sales transactions for violations during this period, believed to be more than 2,000 nationwide. LPL will make offers of remediation to affected investors in Tennessee upon completion of the third-party review.
The order also requires LPL to pay to the state a civil penalty of $33,714.11, representing Tennessee’s pro-rata share of a $1.425 million settlement resulting from a multi-state investigation of the firm by a task force of state securities regulators formed by the North American Securities Administrators Association, of which the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance is a member.
“This investigation is representative of the important investor protection role the Securities Division serves in safeguarding investors throughout Tennessee,” said TDCI Assistant Commissioner for Securities Frank Borger-Gilligan.
The investigation concluded that LPL, through its agents, sold non-traded REITS in excess of the REIT’s prospectus standards, various state concentration limits or LPL’s Alternative Investment Guidelines.
Borger-Gilligan also noted that during the negotiations regarding a penalty amount, the task force took into consideration LPL’s attempts to identify sales transaction violations, its efforts in contacting certain states to self-report violations, its efforts to improve its supervisory system, and its cooperation with the task force.
As reported by The DI Wire last month, LPL also settled similar charges with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
