Francis Joseph Velten (CRD# 2291911) has been permanently barred from working as a financial advisor or with associating with any FINRA member in all capacities as of July 19, 2022, according to a recent Default Decision issued by the FINRA Office of Hearing Officers. His permanent bar is a result of his failure to respond to four separate FINRA investigative requests, in violation of FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010.
National investment fraud lawyers KlaymanToskes are investigating (“Francis Velten Summit
Investigation”) former Summit Brokerage Inc. (“Summit Brokerage”) broker Francis Joseph Velten in light of his recent bar from the securities industry. After leaving his employ at Summit Brokerage, and until the recent permanent industry termination, Francis Joseph Velten was working at Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC.
FINRA began investigating allegations that Francis Joseph Velten was encouraging his elderly Summit Brokerage customers to surrender their annuities, sell their mutual funds, and invest the proceeds into bonus annuities away from Summit Brokerage causing his customers to incur significant surrender charges, while Velten benefited from the commissions. FINRA was seeking information related to the churning and flipping of these elderly customers’ accounts.
FINRA sent their Rule 8210 request seeking information and documents from Francis Joseph Velten about the allegations and Francis Joseph Velten’s handling of specific customer accounts on four separate occasions. Francis Joseph Velten failed to respond to any of them.
Following FINRA’s multiple attempts to elicit responses to their investigation, FINRA’s Department of Enforcement served Francis Joseph Velten with a Notice of Complaint and Complaint. When there was no response, a Second Notice of Complaint and Complaint were served. When Francis Joseph Velten did not respond again and based on adequate proof that he received both the First and Second Notices of Complaint and Complaint, a default motion was filed by the Department of Enforcement and approved by the Office of Hearing Officers.
FINRA Rule 8210(a)(1) mandates that a member firm and its associated persons are required to provide information related to a FINRA investigation. It is a violation of Rule 8210 to fail to comply with an investigation by failing to provide the requested information.
Any violation of FINRA Rule 8210 is an automatic violation of FINRA Rule 2010 which mandates that member firms and their associated persons must “observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade.”
Thus, by intentionally refusing to comply with FINRA’s investigation, Francis Joseph Velten violated both FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010.
As a result of his refusal to cooperate with FINRA’s 8210 request for documents and information and his failure to respond to FINRA’s Department of Enforcement Notice of Complaint and Complaint regarding his violations, FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers issued a Default Decision. The Default Decision states that Francis Joseph Velten been permanently barred from associating with any FINRA member in any capacity. In other words, he is unable to ever work at a brokerage firm again, regardless of the position. The permanent bar in working with any FINRA member in any capacity is effective as of July 19, 2022.
Former customers of Francis Joseph Velten with losses in excess of $100,000, and those who have information relating to the manner in which Francis Joseph Velten handled customer accounts, are encouraged to contact Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq., at 1-888-997-9956, and download our Special Investor Report.
KlaymanToskes is a leading national securities law firm which practices exclusively in the field of
securities arbitration and litigation, on behalf of retail and institutional investors throughout the world in large and complex securities matters. The firm represents all investors who have lost money due to financial fraud or mismanagement. KlaymanToskes has office locations in California, Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico.
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KlaymanToskes
Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq.
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lklayman@klaymantoskes.com
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