SagePoint Financial (CRD#: 133763) has many different complaints filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), state regulatory organizations, and investors such as yourself. At the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, we have investigated SagePoint Financial complaints, its regulatory problems, and represented investors with claims of fraud, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty against this organization and its financial advisors.
If you’ve suffered investment losses at SagePoint Financial due to broker misconduct or negligence, you have legal options to recover your losses. The firm’s documented history of supervisory failures and regulatory violations—including over $2 million in SEC fines and multiple FINRA enforcement actions—suggests systemic problems that may have directly affected your investments. Most investors can pursue their claims through FINRA arbitration, even if they signed an arbitration agreement when opening their account.
You should strongly consider hiring an investment fraud lawyer to evaluate your case. Do not wait until it’s too late to file a claim—strict time limits apply. The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. offers free consultations to discuss your case and explore your legal options.
Can I Sue SagePoint Financial?
If you’ve lost money caused by SagePoint Financial and/or its employees’ misconduct then the answer is, YES, you can sue SagePoint Financial but the odds are you signed away your right to sue in court and agreed to resolve your dispute in a FINRA arbitration proceeding. Attorney Robert Wayne Pearce has over 45 years of personal experience in FINRA arbitration proceedings and knows very well how you can not only sue SagePoint Financial in FINRA arbitration proceedings, but WIN that arbitration.
How to Sue SagePoint Financial for Investment Losses
What Can I Do If I Lost Money at SagePoint Financial?
If you lost money at SagePoint Financial, you can file a claim through FINRA arbitration, which is the legal process most investors use to recover losses from broker-dealers. This is not a lawsuit in traditional court—it’s a streamlined dispute resolution process specifically designed for investment disputes. You can pursue arbitration even if you signed an agreement waiving your right to sue in court, because that agreement likely requires arbitration instead.
The process begins by filing a Statement of Claim with FINRA, which outlines how SagePoint Financial or its advisors caused your losses. Common claims include unsuitable investment recommendations, failure to supervise, breach of fiduciary duty, churning (excessive trading), unauthorized transactions, or misrepresentation of investment risks. SagePoint Financial’s regulatory history is particularly relevant here—the firm has been sanctioned at least 14 times by the SEC, FINRA, and state regulators for supervisory failures, compliance violations, and misconduct that directly harmed investors.
For example, the SEC ordered SagePoint Financial to pay over $2 million for breaching fiduciary duty by investing advisory clients in higher-fee mutual fund share classes while collecting undisclosed 12b-1 fees. FINRA fined the firm over $1.3 million for failing to supervise representatives’ recommendations of early Unit Investment Trust rollovers. These documented violations demonstrate a pattern of putting profits ahead of client interests—exactly the type of misconduct that forms the basis of successful investor claims.
Who Can Help Me Sue SagePoint Financial?
The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. specializes in representing investors in FINRA arbitration cases against firms like SagePoint Financial. Our firm has extensive experience handling cases involving the specific violations SagePoint Financial has been sanctioned for, including mutual fund share class abuse, variable annuity sales misconduct, and failure to supervise. We understand how independent broker-dealer business models create supervisory gaps that harm investors, and we know how to build compelling cases connecting these systemic failures to your individual losses.
What Is SagePoint Financial?
The company was founded in 2005 and has been engaged in its broker-dealer and investment advisory businesses since that time. It is indirectly controlled by American International Group, Inc. (“AIG”) and headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona with branch offices located throughout the United States. Its independent broker-dealer Business Model has grown through acquisition and organic development of primarily one and two person registered representative offices supervised remotely. Today there are over 550 SagePoint Financial branch offices with over 1000 registered representatives in almost every state. It is now one of the largest broker-dealer and investment advisory firms in the United States.
Why Does SagePoint Financial Have So Many Bad Reviews and Customer Complaints?
SagePoint Financial operates as an independent broker-dealer, which means its financial advisors work as independent contractors rather than employees. This business model is known for weaker supervision compared to traditional brokerage firms. The registered representatives essentially run their own small businesses under the SagePoint Financial umbrella, which creates significant oversight challenges.
The firm uses remote supervision through Offices of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJs)—other independent contractors who monitor branch offices from distant locations. These OSJ managers are not full-time supervisors; they often run their own financial advisory practices simultaneously. This means there’s no on-site manager watching day-to-day operations, reviewing new accounts as they’re opened, or checking transactions in real-time.
Without daily oversight, problems can develop unchecked. Sales representatives may sell unsuitable investments, forge client signatures, misrepresent investment objectives, or use misleading sales materials—all without immediate detection. Many independent broker-dealer offices receive only one compliance audit per year, leaving an 11-month gap where misconduct can occur unnoticed.
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has documented more instances of sales abuse and investor losses at independent broker-dealers like SagePoint Financial compared to traditional firms with on-site supervision. This structural weakness in the business model directly contributes to the firm’s high volume of customer complaints and regulatory violations.
SagePoint Financial Has Had Many Different Regulatory Problems
SagePoint Financial’s rapid growth has not been without consequences. There have been at least 14 Federal, state and self-regulatory body disclosure events; that is, 14 final and formal proceedings initiated by a regulatory authority (e.g., a state or federal securities agencies like the SEC, FINRA, and states who are members of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA)) for a violation(s) of investment-related rules or regulations. In addition, there have been scores of customer complaints filed against SagePoint Financial for misconduct by its securities sales and investment advisory representatives that are not reported by the firm on its Central Depository Record.
We have reported and written about these regulatory problems and customer complaints over many years. SagePoint Financial is a repeat offender: there are at least 14 SEC, FINRA and state reported disciplinary proceedings citing the firm with one form of supervisory lapses or another in the last decade.
A Brief Overview of Some of the Regulatory Problems Sagepoint Financial Has Faced Over the Years*
SagePoint Financial has been repeatedly censured, warned, and fined for its own misconduct and failure to supervise its army of financial advisors. A few of the notable SEC and FINRA investigations for its misconduct are below:
SEC Orders Sagepoint Financial And Its Affiliates To Pay Over $2 Million To Investors
This proceeding arises from breaches of fiduciary duty and multiple compliance failures by SagePoint Financial in its fee based advisory business. During the relevant period, SagePoint Financial invested advisory clients in mutual fund share classes with 12b-1 fees instead of lower-fee share classes of the same funds that were available without 12b-1 fees. The affected clients were advisory clients whom SagePoint Financial invested in a fee-based advisory service called the Advisor Managed Portfolio (“AMP”) in accounts that are not qualified retirement or ERISA accounts, where 12b-1 fees are rebated. In its capacity as a broker-dealer, SagePoint Financial received 12b-1 fees paid by the funds in which AMP advisory clients invested. By investing these non-qualified advisory clients in the higher-fee share classes, SagePoint Financial and its affiliates received approximately $2 million in 12b-1 fees that they would not have collected from the lower-fee share classes. SagePoint Financial failed to disclose in their Forms ADV or otherwise that they had a conflict of interest due to a financial incentive to place non-qualified advisory clients in higher-fee mutual fund share classes. As a result, SagePoint Financial breached its fiduciary duty as an investment adviser to certain of their AMP advisory clients by investing them in higher-fee mutual fund share classes. In addition, Sagepoint Financial failed to adopt any compliance policy governing mutual fund share class selection. It also failed to monitor advisory accounts quarterly for inactivity or “reverse churning” as required under their compliance policies and procedures to ensure that fee-based advisory or “wrap” accounts that charged an inclusive fee for both advisory services and trading costs remained in the best interest of clients that traded infrequently. This conduct violated Section 206 of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940.
FINRA Censures, Fines, And Orders Sagepoint Financial To Pay Over $1.3 Million To Investors
During the relevant period, SagePoint Financial failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system and failed to establish, maintain, and enforce written supervisory procedures (WSPs) that were reasonably designed to supervise the suitability of representatives’ recommendations to customers for early rollovers of Unit Investment Trusts. Based on the foregoing, SagePoint Financial violated NASD Rule 3010 (for conduct before December 1, 2014), FINRA Rule 3110 (for conduct on or after December 1, 2014), and FINRA Rule 2010.
Sagepoint Financial Censured, Fined, And Ordered By FINRA To Pay Restitution To Charities It Cheated
During the relevant period, SagePoint Financial disadvantaged certain retirement plan and charitable organization customers that were eligible to purchase Class A shares in certain mutual funds without a front-end sales charge (“Eligible Customers”). These Eligible Customers were instead sold Class A shares with a front-end sales charge or Class B or C shares with back-end sales charges and higher ongoing fees and expenses. During this period, SagePoint Financial failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that Eligible Customers who purchased mutual fund shares received the benefit of applicable sales charge waivers. As a result, SagePoint Financial violated FINRA Rule 3110 (for misconduct on or after December 1, 2014), and FINRA Rule 2010.
FINRA Censures And Fines Sagepoint Financial For Multi Share Variable Annuity Sales Abuse
SagePoint Financial failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system and written procedures designed to reasonably supervise representatives’ sale of multi-share class variable annuities and failed to provide training to its representatives and principals on the sale and supervision of multi-share class variable annuities. As a result, the Advisor Group Firms violated FINRA Rules 2330(d) and (e), and F1NRA Rule 3110 (for conduct on and after December 1, 2014), and FINRA Rule 2010.
FINRA Censures And Fines Sagepoint Financial For Suitability And Supervisory Rule Violations
During the relevant period, approximately 3,925 employees of a California County Office of Education (“CCOE”) were enrolled into a Deferred Compensation Program by SagePoint Financial registered representatives (“RRs”) who offered the participants detailed asset allocation advice and provided specific investment recommendations but did not record the customers’ investor profile information on a customer account application and did not require that the RRs maintain any customer files relating to the participants’ enrollment into the Plan. As a result, the Firm did not maintain or preserve records that would allow supervisory or other review of the RRs’ recommendations to determine whether they complied with the suitability requirements. Therefore, the Firm failed to implement an adequate supervisory system, including written procedures, reasonably designed to comply with NASD Conduct Rules 2310(a) and 3110(a) and Section 17(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) in violation of NASD Conduct Rules 3010 (a) and (b) and 2110. Moreover, the Firm failed to make and keep customer account information in connection with the enrollment process in violation of NASD Conduct Rules 3110(a) and 2110 and Section 17(a) of the Exchange Act, Rule 17a-3 thereunder.
*Above are only some of the regulatory disciplinary actions filed against SagePoint Financial by FINRA. NASSA and other state securities regulator investigations and enforcement actions account for more BrokerCheck disclosures.
Did SagePoint Financial Advisor Misconduct Cause You Investment Losses?
When financial advisor misconduct has caused you to lose substantial value to your investment accounts, you have the right to seek reimbursement from the responsible parties. SagePoint Financial is responsible like any employer for its financial advisors’ acts and omissions. In addition, it has an independent duty to supervise its stockbrokers and investment advisors. These cases can be extremely complex, and so having the support of a reputable attorney who is experienced in recovering investment losses for investors is key to your success. Many customers make the mistake of contacting SagePoint Financial without attorney representation about their complaints and have their complaints denied.
Related Read: Can You Sue Your Brokerage Firm?
Consult With An Attorney Who Recovers Investment Losses Caused By SagePoint Financial Today
The securities lawyers at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., have helped countless investors over the last 45 years recover the losses from their investment accounts that were caused by broker negligence or misconduct. The firm has extensive experience with SagePoint Financial cases, and Attorney Pearce is committed to seeing that those responsible for the losses you have suffered are held fully accountable.
Give us a call at 800-732-2889. Let’s discuss your case and see what we can do to help you get the compensation you need and deserve.
