A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that they’d never be taken advantage of by their trusted broker. Many clients have long term relationships with their brokers and it is not uncommon for the broker to have a familial relationship with the client. The unfortunate truth of the matter, though, is that greed is a powerful thing. Time and again, we see trusted brokers looking to make a buck dupe their clients into bad investments with high fees and flat out lie to them about the risks involved. This isn’t only unethical. It’s illegal. So if you’ve lost money and suspect that your broker acted wrongly, then you might want to consider you legal options.
Recent case serves as an example
One elderly woman did just that after her grandson and a friend, both brokers at JPMorgan, allegedly mishandling her $80 million investment. According to reports, over the course of five years, the brokers allegedly bet the woman’s money on risky investments without informing her and charging high fees and hitting her with commissions the entire time. The woman also accused the brokers of forging her name on financial documents so that they could carry out their scheme.
The case eventually went to arbitration, where the woman sought upwards of $69 million in damages. The woman was eventually awarded $19 million dollars after it was found that the brokers engaged in fraudulent misrepresentation and thereby breached their fiduciary duty. One of the brokers was even found to have engaged in elder abuse. That broker has now been banned from trading.
This could happen to you
We share this story because we want you to realize that securities fraud and broker misconduct occurs way more frequently than you may realize, and the losses aren’t minimal. So don’t think that this couldn’t happen to you. If you’ve lost money in your investments and have a gut feeling that something went wrong other than the direction of your stock prices, then it might be time to discuss the facts of your case with an attorney who is knowledgeable in this area of the law.