FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2026 filing
Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC Independent Advisor Business litigation history
What Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC Independent Advisor Business disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 3 lists the material legal actions a franchisor must report; Item 4 covers bankruptcy. This is the franchisor's own disclosure, not a court record, and not legal advice.
Items 3 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 7
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $6.3M
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2026
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
Franchisor is defendant in multiple pending matters including cash sweep class actions (Mehlman/Tripson consolidated), FINRA arbitrations by current/former advisors (Mattson), collection matters (Urban), recruiting-related cases (Oppenheimer, Edward Jones). Past SEC/FINRA settlements: $4.5M (2018 safeguarding), $8.75M total disgorgement+penalty (2017 F-Squared), $850K fine (2016 FINRA wire transfer). Field sales force and advisor client litigation of 5-60 matters/year disclosed as routine.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Six active litigation matters including class action, FINRA arbitration, and three regulatory settlements indicate systemic compliance failures in supervision and advertising
- Recent SEC/FINRA settlements indicate franchisor's own regulatory compliance deficiencies that cascade to franchisees
The verdict grade is FranchiseVerdict's editorial assessment across SBA loan performance, unit growth, revenue and disclosure signals. It is not investment advice.
Before you weigh a lawsuit
How to read Item 3
A franchisor must disclose pending actions and any material civil action involving the franchise relationship, plus convictions or civil judgments for fraud, unfair or deceptive practices, or franchise-law violations, going back ten years. A case the franchisor brought against a franchisee counts too. Item 3 does not include every dispute: settled claims below the materiality line and matters resolved in private arbitration can be absent.
Questions worth asking current and former franchisees, using the contact list in Item 20:
- Were you, or anyone you know in the system, party to a dispute with the franchisor?
- Was it resolved by settlement, arbitration or a court, and on what terms?
- Has the number of disputes gone up or down since you signed?