A lawsuit has been filed against Ameriprise by a Florida-based financial advisor who alleges a branch manager made sexual advances when she sought a position with the firm.
WealthManagement.com reported details of the suit filed by Deborah Lennon, who accuses Ameriprise of violating the Florida Civil Rights Act.
Lennon said that Ameriprise began recruiting her in March 2022 for a financial advisor position, with area representative Francis “Chip” Cerovac as her single point of contact in the process. Cerovac is listed as a branch manager and vice president at The Cornerstone Group, a Daytona Beach-based Ameriprise firm. He indicated he would be the person responsible for deciding whether she would be hired and her main contact if she ended up working there.
Cerovac allegedly sent Lennon “numerous text messages, beginning with pleasantries and discussions about Ameriprise, which escalated to Mr. Cerovac sending Plaintiff photos of himself, asking Plaintiff to send photos of herself to him, offering to share dessert, complimenting Plaintiff’s physical attributes, and sharing love ballads with her,” the suit stated.
By the end of April, Cerovac allegedly told Lennon Ameriprise would hire her within the next week, and she expected a job offer when they met the following week.
“At the meeting, Mr. Cerovac did not communicate the offer, but instead, brought her flowers and propositioned her to engage in sexual activity with him,” the complaint read. “(Lennon) declined Mr. Cerovac’s advances.”
Afterwards, the lawsuit alleges Cerovac stopped communication with her about the job, refused to provide onboarding documents, and, in the weeks following, continued communicating “only regarding his romantic interest in” Lennon.
As a result of “the apparent requirement that Plaintiff engage in a sexual relationship with Mr. Cerovac in order to obtain her offer of employment with Ameriprise, Plaintiff withdrew her name from consideration for the financial advisor position,” according to the complaint.
Lennon argued that it was apparent that Cerovac was a “gatekeeper” to her employment offer, which would only come if she acquiesced. “(Lennon’s) employment with Ameriprise was conditioned on her engaging in a sexual relationship with Mr. Cerovac,” the complaint read.
The lawsuit claims Ameriprise violated the Florida Civil Rights Act by permitting “its recruiter to discriminate and harass a candidate for employment based on the candidate’s sex, and when it permitted its recruiter to condition his communication of the candidate’s offer of employment on the candidate engaging in a sexual relationship with the recruiter.”
Lennon is seeking unspecified monetary damages to make up for “loss of past and future income, compensation, and benefits, as well as pain and suffering and emotional distress,” in addition to lawyers’ fees and costs
Ameriprise said it was aware of the lawsuit but declined further comment. Cerovac and attorneys representing Lennon did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.
The financial broker misconduct attorneys at Lewitas Hyman are uniquely qualified to represent individual investors in investment-related claims against financial professionals and their firms in cases involving advisor misconduct. We understand how financial professionals and their firms are supposed to operate through decades of experience working for the SEC and firms like Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services. If you have suffered investment losses as a result of misconduct by your financial professional or their firms, contact Lewitas Hyman at (888) 655 6002 or through our online contact form for a free consultation.
