Cetera Advisors LLC – SEC Charges Cetera Advisors, LLC with Breaching Fiduciary Duty and Defrauding Clients | Goodman & Nekvasil P.A. May Recover Investor Losses
According to the SEC Allegations:
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Cetera Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser and broker-dealer based in Denver, Colorado, with breaching its fiduciary duty and defrauding its retail advisory clients by, among other things, failing to disclose conflicts of interest related to the firm’s receipt of over $10 million in undisclosed compensation.
According to the SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, from at least September 2012 through December 2016, Cetera invested and held clients in mutual fund share classes that charged 12b-1 fees – which are recurring fees deducted from the fund’s assets – even when it knew these clients were eligible to invest in lower-cost shares of the same funds without 12b-1 fees. Clients whom Cetera invested in the higher-cost, otherwise identical share classes paid additional compensation to Cetera for as long as they held these investments. The SEC’s complaint also alleges that Cetera participated in a program offered by its clearing broker whereby it agreed to share with Cetera revenues and service fees it received from certain mutual funds. As a result, Cetera had an incentive to favor these mutual funds in the program over other investments when advising clients. The SEC’s complaint further alleges that Cetera directed its clearing broker to mark-up certain fees charged to Cetera’s advisory clients, which Cetera then received indirectly from these same clients.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Cetera failed to adequately disclose to its advisory clients each of these practices and the conflicts of interest associated with them. As a result of these failures, the SEC alleges that Cetera generated over $10 million in undisclosed compensation.
The SEC’s complaint charges Cetera with violating Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder. The complaint seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and a penalty.
Investors in Cetera Advisors, LLC May Recover their Losses with Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A.
If you invested in Cetera Advisors, LLC Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A. may help you. Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A., a Clearwater, Florida, law firm with a national practice representing victimized investors, has recovered more than $180 million dollars on behalf of victimized investors.
All our cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis by Kalju Nekvasil, Esq., formerly regional counsel with the NASD, now known as FINRA. Kalju Nekvasil, Esq. has practiced in this area of the law for more than 35 years.
There is no charge for an evaluation of your case. Further, we handle our cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless we recover money for you, we charge no attorney’s fee. Unless you recover any money, you pay us nothing, not even the costs and expenses which the firm will advance on your behalf.
If you incurred investment losses in Cetera Advisors, LLC and would like your case evaluated by a securities attorney (again, there is no charge for an evaluation and all cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis), please contact us.
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