Ameriprise broker’s career survives alteration of computer records.

Suleman Din at On Wall Street reports that an Ameriprise broker, David Tysk, managed to keep his career, and his job, even though he was found to have committed a “capital” offense.

According to the FINRA Hearing Panel decision, Mr. Tysk altered his computer-based customer notes and produced them in discovery in arbitration.  He left out the part about altering the records when he produced them.  The arbitration panel took issue with this.  So did FINRA.

In a 53 page decision (I don’t count the lengthy list of people who received copies on page 54), the Hearing Panel described in detail just how badly a client can screw up his own case.  While doing this, he also put the ethics and careers of several people at risk.  The arbitration panel was not amused.  They awarded damages against Ameriprise and Tysk.  Then they referred the case to FINRA enforcement.  Frankly, you have to really anger an arbitration panel to buy yourself a referral.  Nice job there.

But what amazes me is that this guy is still employed at Ameriprise.  He’s now a target-rich environment for any customer or customer’s lawyer in a “he said/she said” type of case.  He’s proven that he’s willing to go over the line to shore up his past.  How can he be trusted in the future?

His manager needs to be extra vigilant in supervising him.  The firm’s compliance department needs to be on the lookout for anything he does.

But a 90 day suspension and a $50,000 fine will also cause problems with his state licensing.  And if he’s an Investment Advisor representative, that registration will be impacted as well.

That’s the view of one stunned lawyer in Jupiter, Palm Beach County, Florida.  I’m Marc Dobin.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email