Broker-dealer LPL Financial will pay $18 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that its anti-money laundering (AML) program did not properly vet customers and failed to close or restrict thousands of high-risk accounts.

South Carolina-based LPL also violated its own policies and procedures from 2019-23 when it did not close high-risk accounts, “such as cannabis-related and foreign accounts, that were prohibited under LPL’s AML policies,” the SEC said in a press release Friday.

Aaron Nicodemus is the Editor-in-Chief of Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass. Email: aaron.nicodemus@complianceweek.com LinkedIn:...