Putting an end to a conflict of more than two years, Scottrade agreed to pay a fine of $ 250,000 to the Massachusetts Securities Division regarding supervision and training regarding sales contests.

On February 15, 2018, Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin, the state’s principal securities regulator, charged the broker with violating Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act and “dishonest and unethical and lack of supervision “for organizing sales contests.

Galvin said in announcing the complaint against Scottrade that the sales contests violated the standards of impartial labor conduct, which came into effect on June 9, 2017.

If the Department of Labor “doesn’t enforce its own laws and rules, then states must do what they can to protect retirees from companies who think they can gamble with people’s savings by running sophomore competitions.” Galvin said at the time.

TD Ameritrade, however, said in a statement to ThinkAdvisor Thursday that the ordinance “relates only to supervisory issues, and specifically training; The College does not disclose any violation of standards of impartial conduct.

The “single violation” identified in the order, TD argued, “is a breach of reasonable oversight under Massachusetts law because not all of Scottrade’s investment consultants had received any policy training. adopted by Scottrade governing sales contests ”.

The order, TD continued, “does not find or charge a violation of standards of impartial conduct and there is no suggestion that Scottrade did not, in fact, act at all times in the best interests of its clients.”