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Award Date: September 12, 2024
Claimant Representatives: Dochtor Kennedy, MBA, J.D. and Harris Freedman, J.D.
Respondent Firm: CUNA Brokerage Services, Inc.
Case Objective:
In 2015, 20 years into her career in the financial services industry, this advisor was terminated by CUNA Brokerage Services after only five months with the firm. CUNA then published a Form U5 with allegations that the advisor had been permitted to resign during a firm inquiry regarding a form that the advisor had allegedly altered without the customer’s knowledge. Approaching her 30th year in the industry, the advisor chose to seek expungement of the mark with help from AdvisorLaw.
Summary:
The advisor joined CUNA in April 2015. For the duration of her time with the firm, she was not provided with any training or supervision. Her coworkers also complained about the lack of guidance from management.
In August 2015, the advisor turned in a document that a client had completed and signed. The document was scanned and submitted, and the hard copy was then shredded, per standard procedure. Yet after the hard copy was shredded, it was discovered that one of the pages had not been properly scanned.
The advisor contacted the client, and the client visited the office to sign the document again. The advisor turned in the newly completed document on the client’s behalf so that it could be scanned to include the missing page. The advisor did not alter any document without the client’s knowledge at any time.
In September 2015, the advisor determined that CUNA was not a good fit for her, and she resigned to seek employment elsewhere. Regardless of the facts that: (1) she voluntarily resigned, and (2) she never altered a client document, the advisor was hit with a termination disclosure stating that she had been “Permitted to Resign” and accompanying false allegations on her Form U5.
Resolution:
The FINRA Arbitrator reviewed the advisor’s Statement of Claim and CUNA’s answer. He listened to the advisor’s testimony regarding the series of events that had transpired, and he heard Dochtor Kennedy, MBA, J.D., and Harris Freedman, J.D. make arguments on the advisor’s behalf.
The Advisor concluded that the allegations were defamatory in nature, and he recommended the expungement of both the reason for termination and the termination explanation from Form U5. Additionally, he directed that the reason for termination be changed from “Permitted to Resign” to “Voluntary” and that the termination explanation be deleted in its entirety and appear blank. Beyond that, the Arbitrator recommended the expungement of any required explanation for Form U5 having been amended and that any “Yes” answers be changed to “No.”
With every trace of the misleading and damaging termination disclosure soon to disappear from her record, this advisor will be able to begin her fourth decade in the industry with a cleaner public record.