The McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA, Stock Market Loss team currently is looking into claims against former stockbroker and investment adviser Li-Lin Hsu, formerly of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. in Los Angeles and Minneapolis. Hsu is now barred from acting as a broker or associating with any companies that offer securities to the public.
Between 2015 and 2017, Hsu was the subject of several customer disputes, regulatory actions, and an employment separation following allegations.
Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., suspended and then terminated Hsu in March 2015 for alleged violations of company policy relating to handling of complaints, commingling of funds, conducting business with a client in a foreign country, and maintaining a beneficiary relationship with a client.
Hsu was suspended from September to December 2015 after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority alleged that she failed to respond to an information request. The agency barred Hsu beginning in June 2016 after the broker again allegedly failed to respond to a request for information.
Misappropriated Investment Money
Several customer disputes also were filed against Hsu. In September 2015, a customer alleged that Hsu misappropriated investment money that was intended for the customer’s account. The customer requested more than $805,000 in damages, along with opportunity costs, interest and punitive damages in an unspecified amount. The complaint was settled for $675,000.
In January 2017, customers alleged that in August 2014, Hsu for her personal benefit instructed them to purchase a business that was unprofitable and failing. In addition, the customers alleged that she illegally borrowed money from them. Damages were requested in the amount of $1 million.
In May 2015, Hsu was reported by a customer’s attorney to have engaged in unauthorized financial transactions in the customer’s accounts.
If you were a client of Li-Lin Hsu and feel that you may have suffered losses due to investment fraud, risky trades, or other inappropriate activity, it’s vital that you work with an experienced attorney. For a free consultation, contact investment fraud attorney Hugh Berkson at Stock Market Loss at 866-932-1295.
Hugh Berkson is a Securities Attorney with McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman, Co. LPA. Hugh is rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell®.
He obtained a business degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989, and is a 1994 graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Barristers and received both the American Jurisprudence Award, (National Mock Trial) in 1993 and the Jonathan M. Ault Mock Trial Prize for 1993-1994.
