Luke Charles Nelson of Fosston Minnesota a stockbroker formerly registered with Thrivent Investment Management Inc. has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended for two months from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity supported by findings that Nelson had altered customer account documentation. Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent No. 2019061507001 (Aug. 13, 2020).
According to the AWC, in August of 2018, a customer who met with Nelson had completed and signed documents and applications for the opening of fee-based advisory accounts at Thrivent. The documents and applications had been submitted by Nelson to the securities broker dealer.
Nelson was provided notice from Thrivent in September 2018 that the customer’s investment selections and asset transfers were not adequate because of the lack of a customer’s signature. The stockbroker was supposed to have the customer sign the document to address this. He instead forged the customer’s initials on documentation before submitting the documents to be processed by the securities broker dealer. The AWC stated that there was no point in which Nelson received authorization by the customer to make changes to the documents.
FINRA noted that on October 2018, Nelson discovered that the customer’s mutual fund holdings had been improperly transferred into the customer’s managed accounts and then sold. The AWC stated that Nelson’s attempt at fixing this problem involved his completion and execution of commission-based brokerage account applications. He did this without the customer’s knowledge or authorization.
FINRA determined that Nelson violated FINRA Rule 2010.
Nelson was employed by Thrivent between August 29, 2013 and January 11, 2019. He was discharged based upon admitting to the securities broker dealer that he signed customer account documents.
