Founded in 1969, Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation (“LFA”) is an independent broker-dealer and investment adviser company headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company is a majority shareholder of LFA. As of November 5, 2022, LFA had $36.8B in assets under management ($9.2B discretionary; $27.6B non-discretionary). The firm has 1,700+ employees; its brokers are licensed in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Financial Misconduct at Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation
LFA is licensed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and as such is legally obligated to ensure its brokers are acting lawfully in the interest of their investors. If a client suffers losses as a result of negligent behavior or misconduct from a broker, then the firm may be held legally responsible to repay the damages.
Per FINRA’s BrokerCheck report, LFA and brokers backed by LFA have a long history of misconduct and complaints.
In December 2015, LFA was censured and fined $90,000 after FINRA found that from January 2010 to September 2011, it failed to adequately supervise the activities of one of its registered representatives, Paul A. Thomas, who engaged in unsuitable penny stock trading. LFA also failed to enforce its solicitation policy and failed to establish a supervisory system reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable securities laws and regulations.
While LFA did have a system to monitor law-priced securities transactions, the system was deficient. While the system triggered an alert whenever a penny stock transaction over $5,000 was executed, it failed to trigger for anything less than that. Therefore, those lower-cost transactions were not reviewed. Additionally, there were approximately 150 alerts triggered in relation to the transactions in question, but the firm failed to sufficiently investigate.
In June 2018, LFA was ordered to pay $11,316.01 after a FINRA arbitration panel found that it was guilty of breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, manipulation, misrepresentation, omission of facts, and suitability.
In November 2022, LFA was ordered to pay $100,625 after a FINRA arbitration panel found that it was liable for fraud and failure to supervise.
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Meyer Wilson reclaimed $350 million for the victims of investment fraud or misconduct. Our attorneys are experienced in going up against the largest investment firms, such as Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation, and our track record affirms our resources and expertise. Meyer Wilson has represented clients nationwide and internationally, in state and federal courts, and in securities arbitration. As an investor, you have a right to recover investments lost through unethical behavior or decisions made against your interests.