Cetera Financial Group will be shutting down J.P. Turner, its Atlanta-based broker-dealer acquired in June 2014.

Last month, more than half of the reps at J.P. Turner were invited to join Summit Brokerage Services, another Cetera firm. 

The remaining reps were left in limbo regarding their futures.

J.P. Turner had 291 reps as of year end, according to the latest Financial Advisor magazine broker-dealer survey. But the firm has lost some reps since then, according to industry sources.

“Since they became part of our network, J.P. Turner advisors have voiced a strong desire to transition to the Pershing platform,” said Larry Roth, CEO of Cetera Financial, in a statement. “After extensive review, it became clear that the most expeditious and seamless way for this to happen was to invite a significant number of these advisors to Summit.”

Andy Backman, a spokesman for Cetera, declined to comment on speculation that Pershing LLC, Cetera’s main clearing firm, did not want to take on J.P. Turner and its perceived regulatory baggage.

Turner does a heavy business in non-traded REITs, and has had a number of regulatory issues over the years.

But several sources, who have potential business relationships with Pershing and Cetera and asked not to be named, noted that clearing firms are not liable for supervising brokers at their introducing firms.

“Maybe they’re trying to blame Pershing” for getting rid of unwanted reps, said one recruiter who works with Cetera.

Pershing spokesman Paul Patella declined comment.

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