A former LPL Financial advisor has agreed to an eight-month suspension and $5,000 fine after regulators found that he allowed a client to name his immediate family members as account beneficiaries without the firm's approval.
Nannicelli, who also was registered as an investment advisor with LPL for 24 years, "circumvented his firm's procedures prohibiting registered representatives or their immediate family members from being named as a beneficfiary on a customer's account without the firm's approval," FINRA said.
The activity occurred from September 2020 to August 2023, according to the regulator.
"Specifically, Nannicelli assisted a customer with designating Nannicelli's wife and children as beneficiaries on her accounts without approval from the (firm). Nannicelli therefore violated FINRA Rule 2010 and is suspended for eight months in all capacities and fined $5,000," FINRA said.
Nannicelli, who is not currently registered, assisted an unrelated customer with designating his immediate family members as beneficiaries on six customer accounts. After the customer's husband died, the customer signed and submitted forms changing the beneficiaries on all six accounts, naming Nannicelli's wife as primary beneficiary and his four children as contingent beneficiaries — identifying them as "family friend," FINRA said.
Nannicelli, who prepared the forms, later certified on an LPL compliance questionnaire that he was unaware of an immediate family member being a beneficiary on any client accounts, according to the FINRA letter.
LPL had submitted a Form U5 in August 2023 stating that Nannicelli had voluntarily terminated his association with the firm; nearly three months later, LPL filed an amended form disclosing an internal review involving a "customer's allegations that (Nannicelli's) family members were named as beneficiaries of customer's accounts."
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