James Simpson Barred After Allegations Of Selling Away

James Simpson (James Earl Simpson CRD# 424828) is a former registered broker and investment adviser whose last known employer was Equitable Advisors, LLC (CRD#:6627) of Toledo, OH. His previous employer was The Equitable Life Assurance Society Of The United States (CRD#:4039) of New York, NY. He has been in the industry since 1972.

in Simpson’s nearly 50-year career, he has a total of five disclosures, three of which are customer disputes. The most recent was filed on 9/24/2021, in which the client alleged misappropriations of funds for an investment sold outside of the firm. This is known as “selling away,” since the product being sold is not part of the firm’s offerings. At this writing, the claim is currently listed as pending.

A previous disclosure filed on August 6, 2021, also still pending, contains allegations that Simpson sold her an unsuitable variable annuity and misinformed her about a mutual fund investment. No specified damages are listed in either one of these claims.

The only previous customer dispute was filed on 4/1/2009, in which the customer alleged misrepresentation in the sale of various life insurance policies. There were no damages specified, and the client simply requested that the firm investigate this matter. However, the firm found no basis to this dispute, and denied the claim.

Following his departure, Equitable Advisors filed a Uniform Termination Notice For Securities Industry Registration, or Form U5, for Simpson on 8/20/2021. The firm notified FINRA that Simpson had resigned while under investigation from the 9/24/2021 customer’s selling away complaint. Ten days later, Equitable Advisors filed an amended form U5 reporting another customer allegation that Simpson sold to her in a variable annuity that was unsuitable, and also misused her funds. The firm filed another amendment to the Form U5 on October 12, 2021 that included allegations from a different client that Simpson misappropriated funds for another investment outside of the firm.

FINRA sent a request to Simpson for documentation and information related to the allegations, asking for them by 10/14/2021. Simpson’s legal counsel, in an email on 10/15/2021 and a phone call on 10/19/2021, notified FINRA staff that Simpson had received the request for information. Counsel also stated that Simpson would not be providing any information or documents at any time. To date, Simpson has not provided any information to FINRA.

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