Wells Fargo Advisors has won a $931,000 FINRA arbitration award from an adviser it fired in 2013.
Robert Edward Loftus was ordered to pay his former employer a total of $930,874 for allegedly failing to repay three promissory notes, according to a copy of a recent FINRA arbitration award. He was also ordered to pay $300,000 to cover Wells Fargo's legal fees.
Loftus, who now works for Arcadia Securities in New York, argued that he was wrongfully terminated and his compensation unjustly withheld. He did not return a call seeking comment.
Loftus worked for Wells Fargo Advisors in New York from March 2009 to June 2013, according to his BrokerCheck report. He was terminated for allegedly depositing rubber checks drawn on his personal checking account into his Wells Fargo brokerage account.
Loftus denied the allegations, noting in a statement on his BrokerCheck report that he utilized the account in the standard manner that had been in force at the time. "There were no checks drawn on the account which were not cleared and paid by the bank and at no time was my account considered to have an insufficient balance to pay checks presented," he said in the statement.
FINRA opened an investigation into Wells Fargo's allegations in July.
The attorney for Wells Fargo Advisors, Sandra Grannum of New Jersey law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath, had no comment. Loftus' lawyer, James Halter of New York law firm Liddle & Robinson, did not return email and voice messages.
Emily Acquisto, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo Advisors, declined to comment.
-
The broker was barred for allegedly stealing at least $14,400 from three bank customers.
August 22 -
Client claimed that adviser's recommended strategy earned fees and commissions for the bank but wrecked his inheritance from his great grandfather.
August 11 -
The 81-year-old widower also won an additional $12,000 for his elderly friend in a FINRA arbitration proceeding.
July 5
