VALIC Financial Advisors - Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce

Nov 29, 2016

VALIC Financial Hit with $1.75 Million Fine for Compensation Conflicts

Houston, Texas-based VALIC Financial Advisors, Inc. (VALIC) was hit with a $1.75 million fine by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to prevent compensation conflicts. VALIC is alleged to have incentivized its registered representatives to sell its own annuities and discouraged them from selling non-proprietary products. FINRA found that from October 2011 to October 2014, VALIC failed to maintain a reasonable supervisory system to address the potential conflicts of interest created by its compensation policy, which incentivized its representatives for recommending that customers move funds from VALIC variable annuities to the firm’s fee-based platform or a VALIC fixed index annuity. Further, FINRA found that VALIC made the compensation conflict worse by prohibiting its representatives from receiving compensation when moving customer funds from a VALIC variable annuity to a non-VALIC variable annuity, mutual fund or other non-VALIC product.

Jan 22, 2015

Former LPL Financial Broker Jodie Miller Suspended for Sales of Unregistered Tri-Med Securities

Jodie Linn Miller, a former broker with Tampa, Florida based LPL Financial, Inc. (LPL) and VALIC Financial Advisors, Inc. (VALIC), submitted a letter of acceptance, waiver, and consent in which she consented to, but did not admit to or deny, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings that she participated in unauthorized sales of unregistered Tri-Med securities to 14 investors. FINRA found that Jodie Miller, of St. Petersburg, Florida, participated in the sale of unregistered Tri-Med notes to 14 investors. The Tri-Med notes ranged from $10,000 to $150,000 and Ms. Miller allegedly received approximately $38,225 in commissions from Tri-Med for the sales. According to FINRA, Ms. Miller neglected to tell both LPL and VALIC about her involvement with Tri-Med, nor did she obtain the necessary approval from the member firms to sell the unregistered Tri-Med notes.