Tr?id=566623520170033&ev=PageView&noscript=1

SEC Fines Raymond James $500,000 Over Supervisory Failures

Posted on October 11th, 2022 at 2:04 PM
SEC Fines Raymond James $500,000 Over Supervisory Failures

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed a $500,000 fine on Raymond James over its alleged supervisory failures related to a former Tennessee-based advisor.

According to the SEC, Raymond James’s compliance department failed to adequately respond to a branch manager’s concerns about withdrawals in an elderly client’s account. The department’s failure to act enabled an advisor in Cool Springs, Tennessee, to misappropriate $901,500 from a 98-year old’s retirement account between 2015 and 2019, according to a settlement. The branch manager was not named by the SEC, and the manager attempted to escalate concerns about the withdrawals in June 2018 after taking over the Cool Springs office by referring the case to Raymond James’ Senior and At-Risk Clients group.

While Raymond James created the case team in 2017, the group was not typically tasked with flagging internal threats and subsequently failed to contact the clients directly or initiate an investigation. According to the SEC, the compliance department deemed the investigation to be complete and merely put financial advisor Frederick Stow on a performance improvement plan. In 2019, Stow was able to steal an additional $22,400 from a second elderly client, according to the SEC. Raymond James terminated Stow in May 2019 for “misappropriating funds from a client’s account”, according to BrokerCheck. Stow subsequently pled guilty to aggravated identity theft and securities fraud in federal court in 2020, which resulted in a 60-month prison sentence.

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, advisors, law

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next
Quotes Bigger

Fantastic news!!!!  Your professionalism, support and expertise were greatly appreciated.  You made a difficult situation much more bearable.

Marci M.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

1794509056 Law
November 12, 2026
SEC Issues its 2026 Enforcement Report

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed 348 enforcement actions in fiscal year 2026, including 235 standalone actions and 113 follow-on administrative proceedings.

1794418115 Law
November 11, 2026
Morgan Stanley Develops AI Super Agents to Build Portfolios and Manage Client Accounts

Morgan Stanley is developing AI-powered "super agents" that could eventually build investment portfolios, manage client accounts and handle many of the routine tasks that wealth management professionals perform today.

1794338007 Law
November 10, 2026
SEC Accuses Crypto Investment Scheme of Raising $130 Million Through Fake Approval Claims

The SEC has charged two entities with operating a cryptocurrency investment scheme that raised more than $130 million from tens of thousands of retail investors.