Three Morgan Stanley Advisors Clear Records of Back-Office Mistake
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law:
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has expunged the records of three advisors who are part of a large Morgan Stanley team. The disclosure had related to their purported liability for a customer complaint pertaining to a back-office mistake over a misvalued stock certificate.
According to the FINRA panel, the advisors were “not responsible” for the mistake that occurred in Morgan Stanley’s back-office. The panel reasoned that the complaint ought to be removed because it was “factually impossible or clearly erroneous”, according to the award. The claim was filed in June 2021, which was six months after Sean’s team departed UBS for Morgan Stanley.
According to the award, customers had initially discovered old paper stock certificates and sought to have them valued and deposited at Morgan Stanley. However, Morgan Stanley’s back-office “mistakenly valued” the certificates at more than $1 million and subsequently sold them. The certificates eventually were deemed “worthless”, which prompted Morgan Stanley to reverse the sale and ensure their customers were “made whole”, according to the award. Nevertheless, the customers filed a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley and the advisors, but the customers later settled with the firm for “a nominal sum” of $20,000 in a settlement that did not involve the advisors, according to BrokerCheck.
Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.
Tags: eccleston law, finra, morgan stanley
