A unit of Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) agreed to pay $17.3 million to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company received "approximately $30.8 million in undisclosed compensation" for selling real estate investment trusts to brokerage customers.

In the settlement, the SEC alleged that senior management at Ameriprise instituted or authorized the payments. Ameriprise neither admitted nor denied the findings.

The charges stem from Ameriprise's sale of REITs between 2000 and May 2004, when the company was a unit of American Express Co. (AXP).

The SEC alleged that Ameriprise "demanded and received so-called 'revenue sharing' payments related to its sales of REITs and failed to disclose the payments as required." The SEC also alleged Ameriprise didn't disclose the conflicts of interest these additional payments created. In addition, the SEC alleged Ameriprise "issued a variety of mislabeled invoices to the REITs as a means of collecting the undisclosed revenue sharing payments."

Also, the SEC alleged the Minneapolis broker-dealer "sold more than $100 million of unregistered shares of one particular REIT in violation of the registration provisions of the federal securities laws."

An Ameriprise spokesman said, "This is a very old case that hinged on issues of revenue-sharing disclosure that ended in 2004. We long ago expanded our disclosures to ensure that our clients received the information from us directly as well as through the prospectus of the product issuer."

The REITs listed in the proceeding were created, managed, and advised by W.P. Carey & Co. LLC and CNL Holdings Group, Inc.

The SEC alleged Ameriprise's revenue-sharing agreements were "part of a company-wide practice instituted and/or authorized by Ameriprise's senior management in which Ameriprise offered and/or promoted certain non-proprietary investment products."

The SEC also alleged that in 2003, a presentation was provided to Ameriprise's CEO and CFO that described how the company selected potential new non-exchange-traded REITs, and which "explicitly included, among other factors, '(a)bility to meet revenue sharing requirements." An Ameriprise spokesman confirmed that CEO James M. Cracchiolo and CFO Walter S. Berman occupied those positions in 2003. They declined to comment through the spokesman.

Amerirpise completed its spinoff from American Express in 2005.

The SEC said its investigation is continuing.

Shares of Ameriprise closed down 39 cents, or 1.7%, to $22.14 Friday and are unchanged in after-hours trading.

-By Brett Philbin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2173; brett.philbin@dowjones.com