close
close
hsuses

Former LPL broker suspended after allegedly emailing client data to his wife

Theo

Regulators have suspended a former LPL broker in Florida for allegedly misusing the personal information of thousands of clients as he prepared to join the independent broker-dealer in 2022.

Nathaniel Adams allegedly emailed his wife a spreadsheet containing the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates and other information of about 2,300 clients, including some he had not worked with, and then forwarded the document to a contact at LPL Financial, according to a settlement letter with Finra, the brokerage industry’s self-regulatory body.

Adams accepted the settlement, which included a two-month suspension and a $5,000 fine, without admitting or denying wrongdoing. Adams’ lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Before joining LPL, Adams worked at Citizens Bank and Trust and was registered with its broker-dealer Infinex Investments, which is now owned by Osaic Institutions.

Finra alleged that Adams emailed the unencrypted customer information in June 2022 without the consent of the customers or his firm. This action violated Infinex’s customer information policies and Finra’s professional rules, according to the regulator.

Advertisement – Scroll to continue


Adams resigned from Infinex in July 2022 and joined LPL, but his tenure at the broker-dealer did not last long.

Infinex did not discover the emailed spreadsheet until after Adams left the company and notified LPL, which fired Adams in September 2022, according to Finra. LPL cited allegations in its termination notice that Adams “improperly transmitted customer information from former broker-dealers.”

A spokesman says Barron’s“When we learned of the allegations, we immediately launched an internal investigation, which led to the consultant’s termination from the firm in 2022.”

Advertisement – Scroll to continue


Osaic and Citizens Bank and Trust did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to online database BrokerCheck, Adams was briefly registered with another firm, AAG Capital, after being fired by LPL. That relationship ended after Florida authorities filed charges against Adams for allegedly stealing client information. Adams was “permitted to resign from AAG” in June 2023 after criminal allegations came to light, according to his termination notice.

AAG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Advertisement – Scroll to continue


The four charges, including attempted fraud and theft of a trade secret, were dropped in February after a prosecutor confirmed that Adams had complied with the terms of a dismissal agreement, court records show.

Adams is no longer registered with any firm but remains under Finra’s jurisdiction, the regulator said. Finra says it began investigating Adams’ conduct after reviewing his termination form from LPL.

Related Posts