According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker George Snyder (Snyder), previously associated with Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one tax lien, alleging that Snyder recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on October 11, 2024.
Without admitting or denying the findings, Snyder consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he willfully violated the Care Obligation under Rule 15l-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Reg BI) by recommending purchases that were not in the best interest of his customers. The findings stated that Snyder recommend customers invest in leveraged exchange traded funds, also known as Non-Traditional Exchange-Traded Products (NT-ETPs). Snyder did not have an understanding of the features and risks associated with the investments, including the holding-period risk of NT-ETPs or the volatility of the commended stocks, and he was unfamiliar with the strategies or relative costs of the product he recommended. Snyder’s customers had minimal or no experience investing in these products, and he did not consider his customers’ specific investment profiles. Six of the customers were senior investors, two of whom had a moderate risk tolerance, and five additional customers had conservative or moderate risk tolerances. The customers who purchased the recommended stocks suffered total realized losses of approximately $30,000. Snyder’s member firm has offered rescission of the transactions to each of the customers. The findings also stated that Snyder mismarked 32 order tickets associated with the recommendations he made into the NT-ETPs as unsolicited when he had solicited the trades causing his firm to make and preserve inaccurate books and records. The findings also included that Snyder exercised discretion without written authorization when effecting some of the NT-ETP trades. The customers had given Snyder implied authority to exercise discretion in their accounts, but his firm’s WSPS prohibited discretionary trading in brokerage accounts.
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