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Brandon Long Denver claims he is a career entrepreneur who focuses on business marketing organizations’ strategic growth and leadership development. He used to live in Grass Valley, California, but now makes his home and works in Denver, Colorado, where he founded his first business in 2014.
Brandon Long Denver has offered a range of professional services throughout his career, including location management, business and personal growth, client retention, market research, and expansion.
Before collaborating with NGOs in 2019, Brandon Long Denver worked with marketing agencies around the country from his new home in Denver, Colorado, successfully managing several clients and mentoring others on business tactics.
Brandon Long Denver works as a consultant for several businesses and their customers.
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Brandon Long Denver, a former LPL Financial broker, was banned by the SEC.
Have you experienced financial losses when investing with Brandon Long Denver, Danny Hood, Jonathan Cooke, or Christopher Laws? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently took regulatory action against Christopher Laws, Jonathan Cooke, Danny Hood, and Brandon Long Denver. The SEC banned Brandon Long Denver from the securities industry in October 2017.
Laws, Cooke, Hood, and Long are Atlanta, Georgia-area brokers who are accused of defrauding federal employees by persuading them to roll over holdings from a thrift-saving plan (TSP) into higher-fee, variable annuity products, according to a news release issued by the SEC in August 2017.
According to the SEC, these brokers targeted federal employees who were close to retiring and had sizable TSP investments by using a company named Federal Employee Benefits Counselors. The news release adds the following:
According to the complaint, the brokers allegedly misled consumers about important information regarding the advised variable annuity purchase, including the costs and promised investment returns. Allegedly creating the false impression that they were associated with or endorsed by the federal government, the brokers. Investors may have been misled into thinking that their money would be used to purchase a product that the TSP had proposed, carefully considered, or chosen.
The brokers sent investors incomplete or modified transaction forms, as well as written materials they created that concealed the fact that the investment was a privately issued variable annuity with no connection to the TSP and would be processed through a private brokerage firm with which the brokers were affiliated, according to the SEC’s complaint.
While working in Alpharetta, Georgia, Brandon Long Denver was connected to LPL Financial from May 2014 to December 2014. From December 2014 to April 2017, Long worked at BCG Securities as well. Also fired by LPL Financial was Long. Additionally, Long is the focus of client grievances.
Christopher Laws worked in Alpharetta, Georgia, and was associated with LPL Financial from July 2005 to December 2014. In December 2014, LPL Financial fired him.
In addition to working in Alpharetta, Georgia, Jonathan Cooke was associated with LPL Financial from December 2009 to December 2014. Moreover, LPL Financial fired Cooke.
Danny Hood worked in Alpharetta, Georgia, and was connected to LPL Financial from October 2012 to December 2014. Two consumer complaints about Hood involve claims related to variable annuities.
All representatives who are registered through broker-dealers like LPL Financial must be properly supervised, even those who sell investments on their behalf. Broker-dealers must also take action to make sure that their financial advisors abide by all laws and standards about securities. Broker-dealers may be held accountable for consumers’ investment losses if they don’t properly monitor their registered representatives.
A securities and investment fraud law firm with offices in Seattle and Denver, Colorado is called Israels & Neuman PLC. In FINRA arbitration procedures, we represent investors from all 50 states, including those from Georgia and the metro Atlanta area. In the past, our attorneys have fought for over a thousand investors against numerous brokerage houses, including LPL Financial.
Former Brokers Charged With Fraud for Preying on Federal Retirees by SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused four former brokers from the Atlanta region of defrauding federal employees by convincing them to transfer assets from their federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) retirement accounts into variable annuity contracts with higher fees.
Through the ReTIRE initiative of the agency’s national exam program and the work of the Broker-Dealer Task Force in its Enforcement Division, the SEC has been concentrating more intently on brokers’ and advisers’ interactions with senior investors and other investors investing for retirement. This has led to the agency’s enforcement action.
According to the SEC’s lawsuit, brokers used a company named Federal Employee Benefits Counselors to target federal employees who were close to retiring and convince them to put substantial sums of money in the TSP.
According to the complaint, brokers deceived investors about important information about suggested variable annuity investments, such as the costs and guaranteed investment returns. Allegedly creating the false impression that they were associated with or endorsed by the federal government, the brokers. Investors may have been misled into thinking that their money would be used to purchase a product that the TSP had proposed, carefully considered, or chosen.
The brokers sent investors incomplete or modified transaction forms, as well as written materials they created that concealed the fact that the investment was a privately issued variable annuity with no connection to the TSP and would be processed through a private brokerage firm with which the brokers were affiliated, according to the SEC’s complaint.
Federal employees bought about 200 variable annuities from the brokers for a total face value of about $40 million, and they paid for them using money transferred from their TSP accounts. The commissions on these deals totaled almost $1.7 million for the brokers.
“As stated in our case, these brokers targeted government employees age 5912 and over and purposefully omitted critical information when suggesting variable annuity sales because they anticipated receiving higher commissions. In certain materials they distributed to TSP account holders, they even reportedly left out the phrase “variable annuity,” according to Aaron W. Lipson, Associate Director of the SEC’s Atlanta Regional Office.
The TSP will never contact federal employees asking for sensitive personal information, and it does not permit third parties to offer counseling or investment-related services, according to a recent investor notice from the SEC.
Lori Schock, Director of the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, advised investors to exercise caution if someone approached them with an investment opportunity and claimed to be associated with the federal government.
Danny S. Hood, Brandon Long Denver, Christopher S. Laws, and Jonathan D. Cooke are the four former brokers included in the SEC’s complaint. They and Federal Employee Benefits Counselors are accused of breaking any or all of the rules under Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5, as well as helping to facilitate those violations. The SEC requests permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten income, interest, and penalties.
Both the investigation and the case will be handled by the SEC office in Atlanta. Andrew M. Calamari and Antonia Chion serve as the Task Force’s leaders.
Finra Broker Check Report
