Merrill Lynch

Ex-Merrill Lynch Broker Marcus Boggs Pleads Guilty In $3M Investor Fraud

Published on: March 26, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Chicago Stockbroker Defrauded Customers To Fund Luxury Lifestyle

Marcus E. Boggs, an ex-Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith registered representative, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the federal criminal case accusing him of defrauding former customers of $3M. The ex-Chicago financial advisor admitted to using the money to fund his lavish lifestyle. He faces up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced in June.

Boggs spent his entire 12 years in the industry working for Merrill Lynch. Also a former registered investment advisor, he has 13 disclosures on his BrokerCheck, including bars from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Ex-Merrill Lynch Broker Gets Eight Years in Prison For Investor Fraud

Published on: January 3, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Kentucky-Based Merrill Lynch Broker Gets Eight Years in Prison

Christopher Lee Hibbard, a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and Pierce, Fenner & Smith is sentenced to eight years in prison. The ex-Kentucky stockbroker pleaded guilty to investment fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud earlier this year.

Hibbard, who worked 18 years in the industry, has 14 disclosures on his BrokerCheck record, including several pending customer disputes. All of them, including the regulator and criminal cases, were filed over the last two years.

Ex-Merrill Lynch Brokers Charles Kenahan & Dermod Cavanaugh Investigated for Alleged Churning After Over $200M in Losses

Published on: July 15, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-New Hampshire Governor is Suing For Damages

The New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation is looking into allegations brought by the state’s former governor, Craig Benson, who is accusing ex-Merrill Lynch brokers Dermod Cavanaugh and Charles Kenahan of churning his account and causing over $50M in damages that with market adjustments, he claims, is now over $100M. Benson filed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against the broker-dealer and the two men.

Merrill Lynch is a Bank of America (BAC) subsidiary. Churning is when a broker makes excessive trades in a customer’s account in order to earn commissions.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Investigates Investor Claims Involving Ex- Broker Ma Rosa Linan Abrego and Merrill Lynch

Published on: February 19, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Fired Merrill Lynch Broker Barred By FINRA Indefinitely

If you were an investor who sustained losses while working with Ma Rosa Linan Abrego, contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LLP (SSEK Law Firm) today. Our brokerage firm misconduct lawyers work with clients who have suffered financial losses due to the negligent, fraudulent or other wrongful actions of their financial representatives.

Ma Rosa Linan Abrego, based out of McAllen, Texas, was terminated by Merrill Lynch and recently barred indefinitely by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) from working as a financial advisor/stockbroker.

Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas Investigates Merrill Lynch and Gordon Harper over Collateral Yield Enhancement Strategy (CYES) Damages

Published on: January 9, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Collateral Yield Enhancement Strategy (CYES) Damages: SSEK Investigating Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor

Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas (SSEK), a law firm specializing in representing wronged investors is looking into allegations against Gordon Harper, a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch out of Upper Montclair, New Jersey. Prior to that, he worked at Banc of America and Edward Jones.

According to allegations in a recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) claim, Gordon Harper recommended something called Harvest Volatility Management CYES (also known as collateral yield enhancement strategy). Harvest is a money manager which, as the name implies, attempts to manage volatility.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Continues to Investigate Claims Involving Merrill Lynch Strategic Return Notes

Published on: December 18, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Merrill Lynch Sold Strategic Return Notes To Retail Investors

If you are an investor who lost money from Strategic Return Notes (SRNs) that were sold by Bank of America’s (BAC) Merrill Lynch, please contact our investment fraud lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LLP (SSEK Law Firm) today.

The investment raised about $150M from their sales and caused substantial losses from many. SSEK Law Firm is committed to helping Strategic Return Notes investors to recoup their losses.

Securities Fraud Allegations Against Former Merrill Lynch/RBC Financial Adviser Could Lead to More Unauthorized Trading and Failure to Supervise Claims

Published on: August 14, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Earlier this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission barred ex-RBC broker Thomas Buck from the industry. The action came less than four months after the regulator filed a civil case accusing Buck of investor fraud. He allegedly made material misrepresentations and omissions to investment advisory clients and certain customers while he was a Merrill Lynch financial adviser in order to get get paid excess fees and commissions.

As a result, more than 50 customers and clients under Buck ended up paying over $2.5M unnecessarily.

Buck also allegedly did not tell clients that they could have saved money if only they’d opted for a fee-based payment structure instead of the commission model. Meantime, he’d told Merrill Lynch compliance staff on several occasions that the clients knew about the less costly options.

Strategic Return Notes

Published on: March 16, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edward & Kantas are investigating the claims of investors who purchased Strategic Return Notes (“SRNs”). Bank of America and Merrill Lynch created Strategic Return Notes, which are an unsecured promissory note issued by Bank of America. Bank of America has no obligation to and will not make any interest payments throughout the duration of the notes, which go through 2016 if held until maturity. Investors also have no guarantee of getting back the original purchase price of the note at maturity. Instead, investors are paid back a variable amount based upon the performance of an underlying index, the Investable Volatility Index (“VOL”).

The VOL is a complicated index which measures the volatility of the S&P 500, essentially attempting to calculate how volatile the stock market as a whole is and predict how volatile it will be in the coming months. If the computation indicates that the market will be less volatile, or that the market will fluctuate less in the time period, then the index falls. Conversely, if the computation indicates that the market will be more volatile in the coming months, then the index rises. The result is that investors in these SRNs achieve returns or losses based not upon how high the market rises or how low it falls, but rather on how wildly the market was swinging on the way there.

These products are very complicated, and are only suitable for certain types of investors. It is believed that many investors who were sold these products were not told the risks that were involved, or were promised that this product could be used as a hedge to reduce overall portfolio risk when that was not true. Many investors have suffered substantial losses in these products.

Securities News: Wells Fargo’s Wealth Management Division is Reportedly Under Investigation, Merrill Lynch is Accused of Gatekeeping Failures Involving Unregistered Securities Sales, and NYSE Must Pay $14M Over Regulatory Failures

Published on: March 7, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

SEC Reportedly Investigating Wells Fargo Over Possible Inappropriate Investment Sales to Wealth Management Clients

According to news reports, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Wells Fargo’s (WFC) Wealth Management unit to see whether its clients were inappropriately sold certain in-house investment services even though these were not in their best interests. A source told Bloomberg that the regulator’s role in the probe has not been publicly disclosed.

However, in a regulatory filing, Wells Fargo revealed that it is looking into whether inappropriate recommendations were made related to 401(k) plan rollovers, alternative investments, and brokerage customer referrals to the firm’s “investment and fiduciary-services business.” The bank noted that it was assessing these matters in its wealth management business in the wake of inquiries made by federal agencies.

Bloomberg notes that it was in 2015 that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) consented to pay $267M over allegations that its customers were not told that it had profited by placing their funds in certain hedge funds and mutual funds that charged particular fees.

FINRA Cases: Ex-Morgan Stanley Broker and Former Western International Securities Broker Are Barred, Questar Capital Ordered to Pay $797K Restitution Over Mutual Fund Sales, and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is Accused of Not Sending Millions of Margin Disclosures

Published on: January 16, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Two Brokers Barred After Not Appearing at FINRA Hearings

Guillermo Valladolid, an ex-Morgan Stanley (MS) broker, has been barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. According to the regulator, Valladolid did not show up at a hearing into whether, according to InvestmentNews, he “sold investments away from his employer” and neglected to disclose certain outside business activities.

Morgan Stanley terminated Vallodolid’s employment. Previous to that he worked with Merrill Lynch.

In a different FINRA case, the regulator barred another broker, Bradley C. Mascho, also after he did not appear at his hearing. Some of Mascho’s activities while at Western International Securities had come under question. The firm fired him last month, which is also when the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against Mascho and Dawn Bennett of the Bennett Group Financial and DJP Holdings. Mascho was CFO of the latter.