TD Ameritrade pays $1.5M for breaking postal rules

[February 08, 2012]  OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A unit of online brokerage TD Ameritrade will pay $1.5 million to resolve concerns that it violated postal rules and received discounts the company wasn't entitled to.

Nebraska's U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg said Tuesday that TD Ameritrade Clearing had agreed to a settlement in the case involving mailings sent between October 2006 and September 2009.

Prosecutors say TD Ameritrade failed to update its addresses with a postal database of change-of-address information before sending out its mailings. So the Omaha company wasn't entitled to the discounted first-class postage rate it claimed.

These rules are designed to reduce the amount of mail that has to be forwarded or returned.

TD Ameritrade spokeswoman Kim Hillyer says the company agreed to settle this to resolve the matter quickly but didn't admit wrongdoing.

[Associated Press]

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