On July 17, the Commission issued an Order Instituting Administrative and Cease-and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Sections 15(b) and 21C of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against J.P. Turner and Company, LLC.

In the Order, the Division of Enforcement alleges that between July 1, 2001 and approximately mid-September 2006, J.P. Turner failed to adopt and implement policies and procedures designed reasonably to safeguard customer records and information as required by Rule 30(a) of Regulation S-P (the Safeguard Rule). Because it allegedly never complied with the Safeguard Rule, J.P Turner, among other things, never gave its numerous branch managers or registered representatives guidance on how to protect customer records or how to dispose properly of such records when they were no longer needed. According to the Division, this lack of guidance became apparent in September 2006 when the account records of over 5,000 brokerage customers of J.P. Turner were left abandoned for several weeks at curbside outside of the former home of a J.P. Turner registered representative in Alpharetta, Georgia.

J.P. Turner is an Atlanta, Georgia-based limited liability company that has been registered with the Commission as a broker-dealer since 1997. As of mid-September 2006, J.P. Turner had approximately 488 independent contractor registered representatives, working out of over 150 branch offices, including 48 offices of supervisory jurisdiction, located throughout the United States.

Based on the above, the Division is seeking against J.P. Turner remedial action including, but not limited to, disgorgement, civil penalties, and a cease-and-desist order.