While the broker-dealer's Chairman goes off to coach a minor league football team, TD Ameritrade CEO Fred Tomczyk ponders how to deal with more than 380 investors who bought the now-defunct Reserve Yield Plus Fund through TD Ameritrade.  Each seeks to be made whole.

"Failure of TD Ameritrade to take responsibility for their major role in this RYPQX 'hoax' will result in our taking our efforts to the 'next level,'" says a petition signed by the investors and sent to CEO Tomczyk.  RYPQX was the fund's trading symbol.

The petition, sent on or about 10/12, also wnet to the SEC and U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe, who's overseeing the liquidation of Reserve Primary Fund, another fund managed by Reserve Management Co.  The petition gave the broker-dealer 2 weeks to respond.  If it doesn't, the petitioners say they'll take their complaint to the A.G.'s in each state, the company's competitors and the media.  One individual investor, who once had $800,000 in Reserve Yield Plus, still has $45,000 stranded in the fund.

    Allegations Against TD Ameritrade Brokers.   The investors allege that RR's at TD Ameritrade misrepresented the fund as a safe investment.  Reserve Yield Plus was frozen just after the much larger Reserve Primary Fund "broke the buck," or slipped below the $1-a-share value that money-market funds strive to maintain, in September 2008.  The decline in value stemmed from the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings and its securities, which the two Reserve funds held.

The SEC and other regulatory authorities are conducting investigations re: TD Ameritrade's offering of the fund - the firm is cooperating.  The Pennsylvania Securities Commission's enforcement division filed an administrative law action in June against TD Ameritrade, alleging it committed fraud in the sale of Reserve Yield Plus. The complaint was amended on 9/30.

    TD Ameritrade Response.   A spokesperson said the firm hasn't yet seen the petition;  she only added that the company is cooperating with regulators.    [WSJ, 10/13]