A client is suing her broker and five brokerage firms for forgery and "catastrophic and unlawful mismanagement" of her $1.3 million divorce settlement, which she claims was lost.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western Section of Tennessee, was brought by Vickianne Loveland against David Willingham Lentz and his firms — Ameriprise, TCA Financial Group, Prospera Financial Services, Kestra Investment Services and Interactive Brokers.
Over the course of managing her investments, Lentz was registered with all of the firms, according to the suit.
"Purporting to act as Plaintiff's independent 'financial advisors' and knowing that Plaintiff was an unsophisticated investor with no knowledge of investments and securities, Defendants requested that Plaintiff place her trust and confidence in them with respect to her investment assets and proceeded to exploit that trust," the suit states.
Defendants, through Lentz, placed Loveland "in risky and unsuitable investments, churned her accounts, 'day traded' in her accounts, and otherwise grossly mismanaged her investments, the principal of which they knew was intended to fund her retirement and therefore was to be protected," according to the suit.
Defendants, through Lentz, "made a number of misrepresentations to Plaintiff to prevent her from discovering their wrongdoing and even forged her name to account opening documents, arbitration agreements, and other materials to ensure that she was left in the dark in connection with their scheme," the suit contends.
Ultimately, according to the suit, the firms "lost virtually all of Ms. Loveland's assets."
As of March 31, 2021, Loveland's portfolio, which once had a principal of approximately $1.3 million, was worth $7,416.97, the suit states.
According to BrokerCheck, Lentz was fined $5,000 in 2008 and suspended for one month for "cutting and pasting" customers' signatures onto forms. (In a comment on the site, he says he filed the forms "using older signatures" to meet a deadline and that he filed the signed forms when he received them from the clients.)
According to the suit, in 2003, Loveland received approximately $1.3 million in connection with a divorce.
