Law and legal issues

Morgan Stanley had gone to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to fight a lower court's finding that its deferred compensation policies fall under federal retirement law.

Many former college athletes will receive large lump sums, and current players face new NIL guidelines that come with large, officially sanctioned payments.

Panelists on a FINRA arbitration board cited Randy Anderson's claims of age discrimination when questioning UBS's reasons for firing its former broker. Now UBS argues in a court filing that no evidence of discrimination was ever presented.

In separate cases, two federal judges found that neither Wells Fargo nor LPL had a fiduciary obligation to look for clients' best interests with uninvested cash held in brokerage accounts.

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.

A former marketing executive at the CFA Institute faces charges of embezzling nearly $5 million to fund extravagant expenses, including luxury travel and a $150,000 engagement ring, according to prosecutors.

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.

State regulators accused LPL Financial, Edward Jones, Stifel, RBC and TD Ameritrade of charging their clients unreasonably high and unfair commissions on 1.12 million equity trades over a five-year period.

Laura Sullivan stands accused of accessing confidential customer data and violating a nonsolicitation agreement by bringing along at least 15 client households.

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.

Regulators discovered Julie Darrah had been siphoning millions from elderly clients after WEG bought her practice in 2021.

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.

By agreeing to share taxpayer data at all, the Internal Revenue Service is taking an unprecedented step that breaks with longstanding assurances.

Regulators say they are seeking fairness, noting that firms that reached deals with the SEC before the start of the year are under fewer regulatory mandates.