FINRA

A FINRA arbitration panel's decision marked a rare rebuke for a large wealth manager seeking to reclaim money it provided an advisor recruited from a rival.

George "Keith" Demetriades was accused of violating nonsolicitation clauses and misappropriating trade secrets after leaving for an RIA in 2023.

Now at Wells Fargo, Matthew McCrea is accused of violating a nonsolicitation agreement he signed at JPMorgan. The suit echoes allegations JPMorgan made days earlier against a broker now at Morgan Stanley.

An advisory panel has recommended changes that would bring arbitration rules for RIAs into line with those now governing FINRA proceedings for broker-dealers. The proposal still has to get through the SEC.

Retired investor Tracy Driver alleges he was encouraged to put millions into a now delisted media company and then lost more through unauthorized sales of "prized" shares in Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet.

Randy Anderson worked as a broker for nearly 25 years without a complaint before being accused of making unauthorized trades by a client who, his lawyer says, actually ended up saving money.

Investor advocates and others worry that recent changes to who can serve on FINRA panels will exclude arbitrators most likely to be sympathetic to ordinary investors.

Experts say that there are pitfalls, rules and procedures that departing financial advisors should know. Problem is, too many act first and consult lawyers later.

The decision comes as a victory for FINRA in a series of legal assaults meant to undercut the authority of self-regulatory organizations.

The broker-dealer alleged that a FINRA arbitration panelist who helped hand down the landmark penalty should have recused herself after reaching a similar conclusion in a case involving the same embattled broker.