A broker-dealer agreed to provide remediation to impacted customers to settle FINRA charges of failing to establish and maintain a supervisory system and written supervisory procedures. The matter involved the sale of mutual fund shares to charitable organizations and retirement plans.
According to the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, Lincoln Investment Planning, LLC ("Lincoln") harmed certain customers by selling them shares in mutual funds without informing those customers that they were eligible to buy lower-cost shares in those same mutual funds. The customers, namely charitable organizations and retirement plans, were eligible to purchase Class A shares with no front-end sales charge. They were instead sold Class A shares with a front-end sales charge or Class B or C shares, which have back-end sales charges and/or higher fees and expenses than Class A shares. FINRA found that while this was ongoing, Lincoln failed to reasonably supervise the provision of sales charge waivers and lacked adequate written supervisory procedures to ensure that the waivers were offered to eligible customers.
In resolving the matter, FINRA acknowledged Lincoln's cooperation throughout the investigation. Lincoln neither admitted to nor denied the findings.
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