Law and legal issues

A Tax Court ruling that limited partners in an investment manager must pay Uncle Sam could cause some restructuring across the industry, an expert said.

Regulators have handed down more than $3 billion in penalties over employees' alleged failures to record business-related messages sent on services like WhatsApp.

Regulators accused the online brokerage of failing to accurately report trades, comply with short selling rules and maintain proper books and records, among other things.

Two brokers had sought an unspecified amount that they argued they were owed from when they worked at the Wall Street giant before departing for rival firms.

Lawsuits before the Supreme Court and in lower federal courts across the country could further reduce enforcement powers at the IRS and the SEC this year.

The firm says a summer intern who was turned down for a full-time position sent harassing messages that led it to close its Atlanta office for two days in January.

Michael and David Sztrom, who settled fraud allegations with the SEC in 2022, contend the regulators' "follow on" attempt to boot them from the industry violates their constitutional rights.

Nicholas Takahashi stood accused of taking confidential information when he left for Raymond James last summer. But a federal judge said she saw no convincing evidence of illicit dealings.

Robert Daly was part of a star team that left Morgan Stanley in 2023 to join First Republic and has since been barred from the industry.

A FINRA arbitration panel sided with a claimant who contended Wells and one of its advisors should have recognized telltale signs of elder fraud when their client decided to give away tens of thousands of shares of Aflac stock.

From LPL Financial's legal challenges to a continuing education scam that involved more than 60 brokers, these are the stories our readers flocked to in 2024.

Edward Turley, a once high-flying advisor booted from the industry in 2022, is at the center of a dozen client settlements costing JPMorgan upward of $63 million.

Michael Bernier oversaw roughly $165 million in client assets at Canter Strategic Wealth Management, a firm with $300 million under management. Then he left to join LPL.

Industry watchdogs stayed busy trying to root out elder fraud and off-channel communications while plaintiffs lawyers' questioned firms' sweeps policies and regulators' basic authority.

FINRA charges restitution but forgoes punitive fines for the three firms after crediting them for cooperating in its investigation.

Jefferies was among a group of firms cited by the SEC in its recent sweeping investigations into illegal "off channel" communications.

Regulators accused UBS of not doing enough to monitor 22 brokers who generated commissions and sales concessions of syndicate preferred stocks.

While at Schwab, Roberto Ortega worked with clients whose accounts held more than $1.5 billion. A lawsuit seeks to bar him from soliciting their business for his new employer.

The case stems from Raymond James' recruitment of the $2.8 billion Wise Advisor Group from Baird, which also landed a penalty for a broker protocol violation.

The rival firms will pay for a forensic consultant to preserve evidence of transferred confidential data while they await FINRA arbitration.