FINRA barred broker Steven Jun Lu, formerly of JP Morgan (Altadena, California) for entering into a power of attorney with an elderly investor that gave Lu power of his client's financial affairs and appointed him as co-trustee over her assets. The trust agreement also named Lu as beneficiary of 75% of his 87-year-old retiree customer's estate.
Investigators wrote that after randomly meeting the elderly woman when she walked into an Altadena Chase Bank branch in 2018, Steven Lu (CRD #6856088) took the woman to an attorney in order to execute documents to give himself control over her financial affairs.
The report states that Lu repeatedly lied to both JP Morgan Securities in Altadena, CA and associated Chase Bank personnel about his relationship with the elderly customer, who exhibited signs of dementia, allegedly claiming (falsely) that the senior client was a "close family friend" who wanted to open an account and name Lu as trustee on the account.
Lu's client was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease within six months after meeting Lu.
AWC #2018058642601 also noted that Lu's power of attorney included a provision that allowed Lu to make gifts to himself of the greater of $5,000 or five percent of his client's assets, and was structured in a way that enabled Lu to inherit 75% of trust assets upon his cognitively impaired client's death.
FINRA first issued a Wells Notice regarding Lu's alleged elder abuse on March 23, 2020, opting to bar Lu on April 7.
JPMorgan Chase Bank, meanwhile, permitted Lu to voluntarily resign while under internal review.
If you or a loved one invested with Steven Jun Lu or with any broker or financial adviser who improperly entered into a power of attorney and set up a trust agreement that gave themselves disproportionate control, beneficiary status, or otherwise made misrepresentations such as claiming to be a family friend, and these false pretenses resulted in a financially damaging arrangement, please call an experienced FINRA arbitration attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.