For over thirty (30) years we have worked with investors’ whose portfolios have been mismanaged. If you have not studied securities analysis or portfolio management, you may not understand why your portfolio has not performed properly given the market’s historic rise
The securities industry is aware that people, including family members and caretakers, take advantage of elders (generally described as being aged 65 or older).
In a recent case arbitrated in the FINRA forum, the estate of a deceased individual (alive at the time of the thefts) had a step-son who called into Hartford and pretended to be his step-father. The decedent had a Hartford account for over
20 years without any withdrawals. Suddenly, the account showed consistent withdrawals of large amounts. Despite the numerous calls to withdraw funds of sizeable dollars, Hartford failed to take any action to discover the that the step-son was impersonating their client and stealing the money.
At the same time, the decedent’s broker and broker-dealer, Woodbury Financial Services, received information from Hartford but they took no action as well, including failing to contact the investor about the sudden withdrawals which
would have revealed the theft.
The FINRA panel awarded the estate $100,000 for the losses as a result of the theft.
***Mr. Gail E. Boliver has represented investors for 30 years and has approximately 70 arbitrations in addition to several court cases with many cases settling through mediation or otherwise.***
