Were you the victim of former Pruco Securities, LLC broker Julian Piekarczyk (CRD# 1128773)? Piekarczyk was registered with Pruco Securities, LLC in Joliet, Illinois from 1991 to 2018, when he was terminated regarding, “Registered Representative maintained joint control of a customer’s outside bank account, without firm approval, and, upon the death of the customer, who was not an immediate family member, closed the account after withdrawing the funds from the account.”
In September 2020, FINRA barred Piekarczyk from association with any FINRA member in any capacity, based on findings that Piekarczyk “circumvented his member firm’s policies by inducing a customer to designate his spouse as a beneficiary on financial products the customer purchased and induced the customer to open a joint bank account with him, granting him a right of survivorship. The findings stated that Piekarczyk notified his firm that the customer, who was not a member of Piekarczyk’s immediate or extended family, intended to make him a beneficiary of the customer’s life insurance policy. The firm notified Piekarczyk, in writing, that he was prohibited from becoming a beneficiary of the customer’s insurance policy without a firm-approved exception to the firm’s policies. Piekarczyk did not request that the firm approve an exception to the firm’s policies. Instead, Piekarczyk represented to his firm that he would not be the customer’s beneficiary. At Piekarczyk’s suggestion, he and the customer opened an interest-bearing joint bank account with a right of survivorship. The customer funded the joint account with a deposit of $76,977.37 Piekarczyk did not disclose to his firm that he maintained a joint bank account with the customer. The findings also stated that when the customer died, Piekarczyk became the sole owner of the funds and interest earned in the joint bank account with the customer. Piekarczyk withdrew the balance of the joint account, totaling $69,512, and deposited the funds into a bank account he held with his spouse. Piekarczyk’s spouse received checks, totaling $76,540, as beneficiary of the customer’s variable annuities, mutual fund account, and fixed annuity.”
In June 2020, FINRA named Piekarczyk in a complaint, alleging that he “engaged in an unethical course of conduct by taking advantage of his relationship with a customer to benefit financially from the customer’s policies and accounts and in doing so, acted contrary to representations he made to his member firm and in circumvention of its policies designed to protect the customers. The complaint alleges that Piekarczyk notified his firm that his customer, who was 63 years old at the time, intended to name him as a beneficiary of the customer’s life insurance policy. The firm informed Piekarczyk that he could not be named a beneficiary of the customer’s policy without a firm-approved exception. In response, Piekarczyk represented to the firm that he would not be named a beneficiary of the customer’s policy. Thereafter, Piekarczyk circumvented firm policies by having the customer designate Piekarczyk’s wife as a beneficiary on multiple financial products that Piekarczyk sold to the customer and by assisting the customer in making the beneficiary designations.”
Piekarczyk has been the subject of one customer complaint, according to his CRD report:
March 2018. “Regarding the 10/2006 & 4/2008 purchase of two annuities. The complainant alleges that the registered representative’s spouse was made the primary beneficiary of the annuities. The complainant also alleged that the registered representative was a joint tenant on the client’s checking account; after the client passed away, the account balance was reduced to $0.” The customer sought $69,493 in damages and the case was settled for $146,037.01. The complaint was regarding a variable annuity.
Pursuant to FINRA Rules, member firms are responsible for supervising a broker’s activities during the time the broker is registered with the firm. Therefore, Pruco Securities, LLC may be liable for investment or other losses suffered by Piekarczyk’s customers.
Erez Law represents investors in the United States for claims against brokers and brokerage firms for wrongdoing. If and have experienced investment losses, please call us at 888-840-1571 or complete our contact form for a free consultation. Erez Law is a nationally recognized law firm representing individuals, trusts, corporations and institutions in claims against brokerage firms, banks and insurance companies on a contingency fee basis.
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