According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "The New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation filed an administrative complaint against Ameriprise Financial Inc., accusing the company of forgery, document tampering, and of failing to deliver nearly 500 financial plans to customers that paid for them."
The bureau is seeking a $10 million fine. The company denies the allegations, saying that the bureau's characterization of the issue as a "broad-based compliance issue" is unfair. New Hampshire accuses the company of forging clients signatures to make it appear that they had received the detailed personal financial plans in book form that the company had promised them.
Shares of Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP) were up more than 3% today, as investors in the $15.4 billion company shrugged off the possibility of a $10 million fine.
But the cost to the company's reputation could be more important. In addition to The Wall Street Journal story, numerous other outlets have picked up the story. Anyone who happens to have read it, which is bound to be hundreds of thousands of people, will likely think twice before working with the company.
Ameriprise accused of forgery
Posted Oct 23rd 2007 6:13PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Law, Newspapers, Scandals
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-23-2007 @ 7:48PM
DORFMONT said...
True to form. This company's predecessor, IDS, did the same thing to one of my clients only worse. They told her she did not have to have her tax return prepared by them as part of her financial plan. They prepared it anyway and then forged her signature on it and filed it with the IRS. When she filed the return that our firm had prepared, she got a very mysterious letter from the IRS with a copy of the forged return.
1-02-2008 @ 11:51AM
brian said...
I feel that Ameriprise financial advisors are some of the best stock pickers in the financial services industry! (Cough Cough.....)