Advisory Firm Ordered To Pay $3.6M To Former Advisors

Posted on June 19th, 2014 at 10:34 AM

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law Offices:

A FINRA arbitration panel has ordered Valentine Capital Asset Management Inc., a California advisory firm, and its head John Valentine to pay a total of 3.6 million in damages to his two former advisors, William Leitch and Corey Casilio.

The award includes $800,000 in compensatory damages, $2.5 million in punitive damages for drumming up false customer claims against the advisors after they left his firm in September 2011, $338,000 in attorney’s fees and $ 30,000 in sanctions and fees for Valentine’s refusal to produce documents during the case.

In addition, the arbitration award directed the expungement of five customer complaints from Casilio’s disciplinary record and six complaints from Leitch’s record, and ordered that defamatory information on the brokers’ U-5s be removed.

The attorneys of Eccleston Law Offices represent investors and advisers nationwide in securities and employment matters. Our attorneys draw on a combined experience of nearly 50 years in delivering the highest quality legal services.

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