The Green Firm recently filed a Statement of Claim through the FINRA arbitration process on behalf of our clients for losses in excess of $100,000 due to the alleged mismanagement of their account by Wells Fargo and its financial advisor. The broker and Wells Fargo allegedly misused long-term investment products like mutual funds for ultra-short term investing; and ultra-short term investment products like non-traditional ETFs for long-term investing.
Broker betrays trust and decimates portfolio
The Green Firm recently filed a Statement of Claim for compensatory damages in excess of $50,000 on behalf of our client against LPL Financial and Summit Brokerage Services, the supervising brokerages of a broker who allegedly betrayed our client's personal trust and lost him and his family a lot of money. Contrary to our client's express investment objectives and risk tolerance, the broker allegedly recommended and implemented an investment strategy that was overly aggressive, excessive in risk, and wholly unsuitable. This strategy included the allegedly negligent mishandling of non-traditional ETFs, which are a complex financial product designed to be used for one day only but which in this case were held for months at a time, resulting in massive losses. For the sake of other investors out there who have suffered as a result of misuse of the same or similar products, here they are by name: Direxion Shares ETF Trust Daily Energy Bear 3X Shares (symbol ERY); Direxion Shares ETF Trust Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (symbol FAZ); Direxion Shares ETF Trust Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (symbol BGZ).
Broker abuses non-traditional ETFs
The Green Firm recently filed a statement of claim against LPL Financial, LLC whose employee financial advise abused what are called non-traditional ETFs was breathtaking. We allege that the broker in question lost our client, a very frugal and risk-averse small businessman, approximately 70% of his total account value as a result of investment misconduct by his broker in combination with a lack of supervisory oversight on the part of LPL Financial, LLC.
Non-traditional ETFs are highly complex financial products which are typically unsuitable for retail investors and designed to be deployed in volatile markets for one trading day at a time. In this case, the broker held the non-traditional ETFs in the claimant's account for a period of several months.
Shocking as this abuse may sound, unfortunately it's all too common. Broker misconduct and the misapplication of sophisticated financial products are at the center of so many of the cases we see at The Green Firm. If you have been the victim of similar conduct by LPL Financial, LLC or any other broker or brokerage firm, please contact us immediately for a free consultation to review your legal rights.