Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson alongside Mississippi’s Securities Division has joined a $17 million multi-state settlement with investment adviser and broker-dealer Edward Jones.
The settlement was derived from an investigation of the company’s management of customers who paid upfront commissions for Class A mutual fund shares, which later was moved into a fee-based advisory account.
“Through the continuous hard work of our Securities Division, Mississippi investors may have confidence their hard-earned and invested dollars are safe,” Watson said. “Companies operating in Mississippi will be required to follow the law.”
Watson stresses that this action was to ensure that the Mississippi investor funds are protected and that companies follow the law. The four-year investigation was based on the idea that Jones had issues supervising client asset movement from brokerage to advisory account. The investigation revealed that the company has failed to manage situations where customers sold mutual fund shares quicker than expected, this action led to the additional charges.
Through the context of the settlement, Jones has agreed to pay Mississippi alongside the other 49 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico an administrative fine of approximately $320,000 each.
