Securities and Exchange Commissioner, Luis A. Aguilar, promoted the protection of elderly investors as an issue of primary concern during an address to the SEC's Investor Advisory Committee in Washington, DC on July 10, 2014.
Describing the issue of elderly investor exploitation as an "increasingly urgent" matter due to the population's vulnerability, Aguilar continued by analyzing specific facets of elder financial abuse, including the relationship between exploitation and diminished capacity, issues related to retirement and the specific crime of fraud targeting elderly investors.
The SEC Office of the Investor Advocate committed to the official inclusion elder abuse on its Policy Agenda for Fiscal Year 2015, noting that the problem of fraud targeting elderly investors is getting worse, with most recent estimates holding that as many as one in five Americans aged 65 or older have been victimized by financial fraud, in part because of a greater accumulation of wealth and greater concentration of investors who happen to be elderly.
To prevent fraud, Aguilar suggested that the SEC establish a permanent internal elder financial abuse working group dedicated to fraud and other schemes that affect or target primarily older investors, consider elder concerns when crafting new rules and regulations, and increase outreach to elderly investors through local, state and national regulatory bodies.
Aguilar concluded his remarks by restating the importance and urgency of elder financial abuse, imploring all federal agencies to consider such important issues.
If you are 65 years or older, and have invested with any broker, financial adviser or firm whose practices, transactions or other patterns of conduct have been fraudulent, illicit or otherwise proven harmful to your investments and financial interests, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for investigation and consultation.
Speech: Combating the Financial Exploitation of Older Adults (US SEC)