Maine Joins Other States by Requiring Mandatory Reporting of Suspected Financial Exploitation

To enhance prompt reporting of financial exploitation to state securities regulators and adult protective services, on April 2, 2019 Maine joined 25 other states by enacting the Act to Protect Vulnerable Adults from Financial Exploitation, Public Law 2019 Ch. 17.  The Act makes broker-dealers and others mandatory reporters of suspected financial exploitation of seniors and vulnerable adults. 

The Act is intended to combat financial exploitation of elderly and disabled persons, a not infrequent occurrence.  According to one reputable source as many as 20% of adults over the age of 65 have been victimized by financial fraud, and only one in 44 cases of financial abuse is ever reported.  The Maine law is largely identical to a model act developed by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), an organization of state securities administrators dedicated to protecting senior investors from financial exploitation. 

The Act contains five key elements:

• mandatory reporting to a state securities regulator and state adult protective services agency when a qualified individual has a reasonable belief that financial exploitation--generally, wrongful or unauthorized use of money--of an eligible adult has been attempted or has occurred;
• authorized disclosure only to third parties in instances where an eligible adult has previously designated the third party to whom disclosure may be made;
• authority for broker-dealers and investment advisers to delay disbursing funds from an eligible adult's account if there is a reasonable belief that a disbursement would result in financial exploitation;
• immunity from liability for reporting of suspected financial abuse and for delayed disbursements; and
• mandatory cooperation with requests for information by state investigators in cases of suspected financial abuse (any records provided under this clause are exempt from state public records law).

The Act applies to any "eligible adult," which is defined as persons age 65 or older or who are protected under adult protective services law.  The mandatory reporting requirement applies to any agent, investment adviser representative or individual who serves in a supervisory, compliance or legal capacity for a broker-dealer or investment adviser.  According to NASAA, the "reasonable belief" standard for making a report "is intended to be both a subjective and objective standard – i.e., a qualified individual must have a subjective belief in the existence of the financial exploitation, and this belief must be objectively reasonable."

The Act will force broker-dealers to make tough calls about whether to make a report.  Broker-dealers may perceive reporting as having the potential to alienate a customer or a customer's family, who may react negatively to a report and ensuing investigation.  Although a mandatory reporter is immune from liability, that does not mean that a customer (or customer's family) is obligated to continue to do business with a broker-dealer who (in the family's view) instigated an unjustified investigation.  Many customers will, however, recognize that reporting is ultimately for their own benefit.

How well is the Act working?  The Maine Office of Securities has not made public any statistics on the number of reports, the outcome of reports, or other activity related to the Act.   Nor has it pursued any enforcement action for failure to report.   The focus of Maine regulators is on educating the regulated community about this obligation, so far.