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September 29, 2020 at 03:31 PM
(Photo: Shutterstock)A former Ameriprise Financial advisor has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and failure to file tax returns, according to Lawrence Keefe, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
James A. Young III, 50, of Milton, Florida, worked for Ameriprise from 2000 to 2007 and again from 2013 to 2014, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s BrokerCheck website.
However, Ameriprise fired him on July 21, 2014, for policy violations such as soliciting and accepting funds from clients for investments outside the firm, borrowing funds from clients and engaging in unapproved outside business activities, the disclosure on his BrokerCheck report states.
As part of his sentence, Young was ordered to pay about $402,200 in restitution to two dozen victims and roughly $125,100 in restitution for unpaid taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, Keefe said.
“Upon discovering his actions, we immediately suspended and investigated the advisor, and subsequently terminated him,” an Ameriprise spokeswoman told ThinkAdvisor Tuesday.
Broker’s Disbarment
FINRA barred Young from associating with any FINRA member in any capacity in February 2015 after he failed to respond to its request for information as part of an investigation into his actions, the BrokerCheck report also shows.
The Securities and Exchange Commission barred him earlier this year, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and three counts of failure to file tax returns.
