The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined and suspended an ex-Ameriprise Financial rep in Cincinnati who allegedly generated $450,000 in commissions from unsuitable mutual fund switches.

Angel W. Bardeche agreed to a nine-month suspension, a $10,000 fine and $5,000 in disgorgement to resolve Finra’s allegations of costly mutual fund trading, according to a January 6 settlement on Finra’s BrokerCheck.

Bardeche consented to findings that she recommended and effected the unsuitable switching of Class A mutual fund shares, including short-term liquidations, while registered with Ameriprise as a broker. She was employed at the firm from 2012 to 2019, according to Finra.

Bardeche, “did not have a reasonable basis to believe that this recommended pattern of switching and short-term liquidations of mutual fund Class A shares was suitable for customers,” and so violated suitability rules, Finra said.

In some instances, the broker advised her clients to sell Class A shares—which carried a front-end sales charge of around 5.75% and are designed to be longer-term positions—within a year. Customers paid a total of about $450,000 in sales charges on the switches.

Bardeche also made costly back-to-back switches in client accounts. In one case, she recommended that one customer sell Class A shares that were held for just 10 months and use the proceeds to buy new Class A shares, incurring $3,100 in new sales charges. And then eight months later, Bardeche recommended that the customer sell those shares and buy other Class A shares, leading to more than $2,600 in sales charges.

In total, Bardeche made 109 trades in eight non-discretionary customer accounts without prior written authorization, Finra said.

Bardeche, who began her career at Morgan Stanley in 2004 before she joined Raymond James in 2008 and then Ameriprise in 2012, is no longer registered as a broker.

According to Ameriprise spokeswoman Alison Mueller, the firm “quickly detected the activity through [its] supervisory system,” terminated Bardeche and reimbursed clients.

Since 2019, Ameriprise has paid $380,000 in settlements to four of Bardeche’s former customers, according to BrokerCheck, which notes Bardeche did not contribute.

The firm fired her for “company policy violations related to failing to obtain authorization from clients prior to placing trades and mutual fund trading activity,” according to BrokerCheck. Finra said it began investigating Bardeche based on Ameriprise’s U5 filing in April 2019.

Bardeche disputed her 2019 Ameriprise termination as “unjustified” and “strongly” disputed the alleged violations, according to a note she attached to her BrokerCheck record. She settled Finra’s charges, however without admitting or denying the allegations.

In anticipation of a crackdown on investment fees by the U.S. Department of Labor, Ameriprise several years ago stopped selling pricier Class A shares which carried an upfront sales charge of more than 5.5%.