Timothy Mills, formerly with NYLife Securities, Suspended Three Months
Have you lost money with financial advisor Timothy Mills from Okemos, Michigan? We are investigating allegations made by FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) made against Timothy Robert Mills. FINRA alleged that Timothy Mills made unsuitable recommendations to ten of his customers to switch from Class “A” shares of one mutual fund to another. To settle these allegations, Mills was suspended from the securities industry for three months and ordered to disgorge $7,500 in commissions.
“A” shares of mutual funds typically have upfront commissions of 3% to 5%, and Mills was recommending that one of his clients exchange these shares on 66 occasions between January 2015 and December 2018, costing these customers over $174,000 in commissions. As such, these clients were paying 3% to 5% commissions on a short term basis, and FINRA alleged that this was excessive and unsuitable.
Timothy Mills was a registered representative and financial advisor with NYLife Securities from 2002 to April 2019. He has also been affiliated with Eagle Strategies. He worked out of a branch office in Okemos, Michigan. Mills has been the subject of at least one customer complaint, and he was also “permitted to resign” by NY Life Securities for this conduct.
Broker-dealers like NYLife Securities have a responsibility to adequately supervise all representatives who are registered through their firm, including investments sold by their registered representatives. Broker-dealers also must take steps to ensure that their financial advisors follow all securities rules and regulations, such as to refrain from excessively trading a customer’s account or switching mutual funds. When broker-dealers fail to adequately supervise their registered representatives, they may be liable for investment losses sustained by customers.
Israels & Neuman PLC is a securities and investment fraud law firm with offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Denver, Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; and Seattle, Washington. We represent investors in FINRA arbitration proceedings in all 50 states, including investors in Michigan. Attorney Aaron Israels is licensed to practice law in Michigan, he grew up in Holland, Michigan and also lived for many years in the Detroit area. We have also represented a number of victims of Michigan brokers, including Christopher Tolmacs. Our attorneys have represented over one thousand investors against many brokerage firms in the past, including NY Life Securities.
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Click to view: Mills, Timothy FINRA AWC
Click to view: Mills, Timothy BrokerCheck 11.12.19