SEC v. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC and four affiliates (customer information safeguards, 2021)

Settled

Checked against the primary document on October 2, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

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In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission settled an action with Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC, Cetera Financial Specialists LLC, Cetera Advisors LLC and Cetera Investment Advisers LLC. The order finds the five Cetera firms failed to protect customer information and to have adequate identity-theft and cybersecurity policies after email-account takeovers, with a $300,000 joint and several penalty. The release records a civil penalty of $300,000.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	SEC
Release number	3-20490
Date filed	2021-08-30
Date resolved	2021-08-30
Status	settled
Asset class	crypto
Criminal parallel	No
Defendants	Cetera Advisor Networks LLC (entity) ; Cetera Investment Services LLC (entity) ; Cetera Financial Specialists LLC (entity) ; Cetera Advisors LLC (entity) ; Cetera Investment Advisers LLC (entity)
Cited as charged or alleged	Advisers Act s.206 (statutes and rules cited in the document; not a finding that they were violated)
Techniques

What was ordered

Civil penalty: $300k
Disgorgement: —
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: $300k
Alleged gain: —

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on August 30, 2021 as release 3-20490. The respondents named are Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC, Cetera Financial Specialists LLC, Cetera Advisors LLC and Cetera Investment Advisers LLC (0 individuals, 5 entities).

This library carries no technique tag on this matter. "Spoofed" is a footnote definition of a phishing email, not a trading practice.

The order finds the five Cetera firms failed to protect customer information and to have adequate identity-theft and cybersecurity policies after email-account takeovers, with a $300,000 joint and several penalty.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $300,000. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

Timeline

2021-08-30 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

SEC order

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.