The Consumer Protection Division works with consumers and those who are licensed by the department. The division takes calls from the public, investigates complaints, and enforces state laws pertaining to the products and services we license.

Each year, Consumer Protection Division staff respond to nearly 60,000 inquiries and complaints. About 8,000 complaints per year are referred to the investigations unit for formal investigation. Investigations can result in an administrative enforcement action such as issuing a cease and desist order, or the revocation of a license.

Enforcement Actions are updated on a regular basis. Enforcement Actions and related public documents are available using our online document search tool. If you need a copy of a Consent Order before it is posted, email your request to consumer.protection@state.mn.us. For actions older than those posted here, please contact the Consumer Protection Division, 1-800-657-3602 (MN only), 651-296-2488 or consumer.protection@state.mn.us For detailed information on how to file a complaint against a licensed entity, please see our complaint information.

If a licensee is an individual who has contested the accuracy or completeness of any public data on him - or herself - that is published here on the "Enforcement Actions" page or any other web site maintained by Commerce, then any Statement of Disagreement submitted by this individual to Commerce pursuant to Minn. Stat. 13.04, subd. 4(a) will be available while the data is in dispute on the Statement(s) of Disagreement page. 

Liquidation
Find documents and detailed information on companies such as Minnesota Surety and Trust.

Minnesota Surety and Trust liquidation notice

Sorted by industry, these pages contain Enforcement Actions generally dating back to 2000. Actions since 2005 usually have a link to the related Consent Order. Actions are in order by date with the oldest at the top of the list.

Abstractor Enforcement Actions  
From 2000-2006.

Adjuster Enforcement Actions   
From 2000 through 2006.

Appraiser Enforcement Actions   
From 2000-2006.

Campground Agents Enforcement Actions  
From 2000-2006.

Closer Enforcement Actions  
From 2000-2006.

Collection Agency Enforcement Actions  
From 2000-2006.

Currency Exchange Enforcement Actions  
From 2000-2006.

Franchise Enforcement Actions 
From 2000-2006.

Gasoline Pricing Enforcement Actions   
From when law was enacted through 2006.

Insurance Enforcement Actions   
From 2000-2006.

Money Transmitter Enforcement Actions   
From 2000-2006.

Mortgage Originator or Servicer Enforcement Actions   
From 2000-2006.

No Call Enforcement Actions  
From 2003-2004

Notary Public Enforcement Actions   
From 2000-2006.

Real Estate Enforcement Actions   
From 2000-2006.

Securities Enforcement Actions  
From 2000-2006.

Subdivided Land Enforcement Actions   
From 2000-2006. 

In 2008, the Minnesota Department of Commerce and other state securities regulators began receiving complaints from investors about their inability to sell their auction-rate securities, securities sold to them as short-term, liquid investments. As a result, the North American Securities Administrators Association formed a multistate Task Force to investigate whether certain firms who sold auction-rate securities had systematically misled investors.

The work of the Task Force and other state securities regulators led to settlements requiring some firms to repurchase from certain investors more than $61 billion in auction-rate securities, the largest return of funds to investors in history.

The settlements entered into by the Minnesota Department of Commerce and firms selling auction-rate securities to Minnesota investors are available at the links below. In addition, Minnesota has collected more than $7,000,000 in civil penalties from these firms. Additional information and future settlements will be posted to this page. You can access the public document related to these settlements by using our document lookup tool by searching on the company name.

They are listed here in alphabetical order:

BANC OF AMERICA SECURITIES LLC Lic# 
Action: Other/Consent 
Signed Date: 7/24/2009 
File # 12180 Inv: DK  Penalty: $644,316 
Allegation: 
GLOBAL SETTLEMENT OF AUCTION RATE SECURITIES INVESTIGATION ALLEGING RESPONDENT FAILED TO SUPERVISE AGENTS AND ENGAGED IN DISHONEST AND UNETHICAL PRACTICES  
 
CITIGROUP GLOBAL MARKETS INC. Lic# 
Action: Other/Consent 
Signed Date: 6/18/2009 
File # 11232 Inv: DK  Penalty: $588,792 
Allegation: 
Global settlement of auction rate securities investigation alleging Respondent failed to supervise agents and engaged in dishonest and unethical practices.  
 
CREDIT SUISSE SECURITIES (USA) LLC 
Against: Broker-Dealer  Location: NEW YORK, NY 
Action: Other/Consent 
Signed Date: 2/26/2010 
File # 13849 Inv: DK  Penalty: $290,901 
Allegation: 
Auction rate securities global settlement resulting from failure to supervise agents and engaged in dishonest and unethical practices.  
 
DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES INC  
Against: Broker-Dealer  Location: NEW YORK, NY  
Action: Other/Consent   
Signed Date: 12/1/2009   
File # 13257 Inv: DK  Penalty: $534,460  
Allegation:   
Auction rate securities global settlement resulting from failure to supervise and engaging in dishonest and unethical practices.   
 
J P MORGAN CHASE & CO 
Against: Broker-Dealer  Location: JERSEY CITY, NJ 
Action: Other/Consent 
Signed Date: 3/4/2010 
File # 13258 Inv: DK  Penalty: $226,222 
Allegation: 
Auction rate securities global settlement resulting from failure to supervise agents and engaged in dishonest and unethical practices.  
  
  
MERRILL LYNCH PIERCE FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED  
Against: Broker-Dealer  Location: CHARLOTTE, NC  
Action: Other/Consent   
Signed Date: 9/9/2009   
File # 13255 Inv: DK  Penalty: $5,574,972  
Allegation:   
Global settlement of auction rate securities investigation alleging Respondents failed to supervise agents and engaged in dishonest and unethical practices.   
 
MORGAN STANLEY & CO. INCORPORATED 
Against: Broker-Dealer  Location: BALTIMORE, MD 
Action: Other/Consent 
Signed Date: 5/6/2010 
File # 16092 Inv: DK  Penalty: $369,026 
Allegation: 
Auction Rate Securities global settlement resulting from failure to supervise agents and engaged in dishonest and unethical practices.   
   
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS CORPORATION  
Against: Broker-Dealer  Location: NEW YORK, NY 
Action: Other/Consent 
Signed Date: 1/14/2010 
File # 12746 Inv: DK  Penalty: $563,251 
Allegation: 
Auction rate securities global settlement resulting from Respondent's failure to supervise agents and engaged in dishonest and unethical practices.  
 
TD AMERITRADE, INC. 
Against: Broker-Dealer  Location: BELLEVUE, NE 
Action: Other/Consent 
Signed Date: 5/19/2010 
File # 13747 Inv: DK 
Allegation: 
Auction Rate securities global settlement in which respondent made untrue statements or omitted material facts.  
 
WACHOVIA SECURITIES LLC Lic# 20410759 
Against: BD  Location: RICHMOND, VA 
Action: Other/Consent 
Signed Date: 5/11/2009 
File # 11200 Inv: DK  Penalty: $387,791 
Allegation: 
Global settlement of auction rate securities investigation alleging Respondents failed to supervise agents and engaged in dishonest and unethical practices. Order covered both entities.