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Multiple Clients of Wayne Hummer’s Former Broker Jeanette Adcock File Disputes and Win Settlements

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)’s BrokerCheck system reports several disclosure events for broker Jeannette Adcock, currently employed by Thurston Springer Financial in Indianapolis, Indiana. According to these reports, Adcock is linked to one regulatory action, 10 customer disputes, and 10 terminations.

Regulatory Action

On May 17, 2017, when Adcock worked as a broker for Wayne Hummer Investments, LLC, the State of Illinois accused Adcock of providing investment advice to clients in the state despite the broker’s not being in compliance with registration requirements of Section 8 of the Illinois Securities Law of 1953. Adcock was ordered to pay $1,000 to the Illinois Secretary of State.

Customer Disputes

Adcock’s duration of employment with Wayne Hummer Investments was peppered with customer disputes—five in total—as reported by BrokerCheck. All disputes have been settled.

On June 18, 2019, clients accused the broker of misrepresented some structured CD’s that were purchased in the customers’ individual retirement accounts (IRA). According to the clients’ allegations, Adcock guaranteed the CD’s would be called in two or three years. Furthermore, because the client’s net worth was overstated in their investment profile, these CDs received a larger concentration of the clients’ assets. Alleged damages totalled $2,752,32. The dispute was settled in the amount of $5,742.50.

Another customer client, received October 21, 2019, alleged the same behavior on behalf of Adcock when she was employed at Wayne Hummer Investments. The alleged damages in this second complaint totalled $57,407.54. The dispute settled in December of the same year for $56,838.12.

BrokerCheck reports a third customer dispute received on February 1, 2018. In this incident, the children of a recently deceased client of Adcock complained of an exhausted death put on a structured CD—a limitation not noted in the documentation their mother signed—that prevented the children from getting par value back on their mother’s investment. The children alleged damages in the amount of $29,668,78. The dispute settled for $22,000.

In a fourth customer complaint received November 2, 2017, a client sought investment advice from Adcock, clearly indicating to the broker that he could not afford to lose principal and therefore wanted an IRA CD. According to the complaint, Adcock insisted on putting the client in an FDIC-insured, safe CD that paid over seven percent. The client complained that Adcock misled them, lied to them, and did not inform them of the risks of such an investment. To avoid losing any more principal, the client ultimately sold the CD for a loss and sought to recover the amount lost in the investment. Damages were alleged to be $25,000. The dispute settled for $4,154.18.

The fifth customer complaint filed against Adcock alleges that the broker misled her client into buying structured CD that failed to match her time frame, risk tolerance, and income requirements. The client sought to receive repayment of the principal on the purchased investment products, with a value of $24,000. Although Adcock denied her client’s allegations, the dispute settled for $21,884.73.

BrokerCheck also reports five additional customer complaints involving Adcock during her time as a broker with Wayne Hummer Investments. The alleged damages in these complaints ranged between $28,516 and $388,488. Each of these complaints was denied.

Terminations

Sometimes a broker is discharged or permitted to resign following allegations of investment-related rules, regulations, statutes, or codes of conduct or after being accused of fraud or wrongfully taking property.

BrokerCheck reports that Adcock was discharged from the following firms:

  1. Sanctuary Securities (June 15, 2020): after being accused of placing a trade for a client in a state where the broker was not registered
  2. Wayne Hummer Investments (April 19, 2017): after failing to forward a customer complaint to her supervisor
  3. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (January 27, 1997): after entering orders for a roll-over investment before becoming effective and without having discussed the orders with some of her clients.
 
 
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