Investment Advisors Can Protect Clients from Financial Elder Abuse

A new law will allow investment advisors to alert authorities of potential financial exploitation of senior citizens.

Beginning July 1, investment advisors will have the immunity to report suspicions to law enforcement. Previously they were bound by confidentiality and reporting this potential crime would opened the door for a lawsuit or legal action.

The new law also changes the criminal statute of limitations for securities violations from five years after the offer of sale of a security to five years after discovery by the state.

According to the Office of the Indiana Secretary of State, an estimated $40 billion is lost every year to investment fraud, with losses from seniors totaling as much as $2.6 million. One in five older Americans say they have experienced financial exploitation or have been targeted by someone trying to defraud them of their savings.