Click here to listen. Recently, financial advisory firms have been getting slammed by lawsuits over deferred compensation and ERISA violations, with cases involving major players like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and U.S. Bancorp. To help you navigate these turbulent waters, we sat down with Barry R. Lax, a founding partner…
On April 30, 2024, a class action was filed against Merrill Lynch in the Western District Court of North Carolina to recover the deferred compensation that Merrill Lynch cancelled upon Plaintiffs’ voluntary resignation. While we believe there are strong claims against Merrill Lynch for violation of ERISA, we believe that…
Recently, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) Department of Enforcement fined and suspended an ex-Merrill registered financial advisor, who had been in the industry for nearly 35 years, for breaching FINRA Rule 2010 and firm policy by violating his duty to maintain the confidentiality of a customer’s nonpublic information. Merrill…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced this month that four investment advisory firms—Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Eagle Strategies, and Cozad Asset Management—agreed to pay $4.72 million to settle charges that they recommended and sold mutual share classes to its customers when cheaper shares were available to those investors. …