John - lost life savings

John went to his broker and sought advice about investing his life savings and retirement money.  John and his wife had very little experience in securities and were unsophisticated investors.  John told his broker that his goal was to have some income off of this life savings. John told his broker that he was a moderately conservative investor and would rely upon and wanted investments  suitable for a retiree such as himself.  The broker informed John that he could comfortably withdraw approximately $100,000.00 per year.  John informed the broker that he only needed approximately $60,000.00 a year to live comfortably, but the broker assured him that with active trading, he could get him $100,000.00 per year and stated "if I can't make 11% on your money, then you should fire me."

The broker invested over 30% of John's entire life savings in technology stocks and John ended up losing a total of 45% of his retirement.  Eventually, John lost approximately $311,000.00 in investments which clearly were not suited for his stated goals.


Ella - 75 year old widow

Ella  was a 75 year old widow taking care of her incapacitated sister. Ella had invested her entire life savings primarily into blue chip stocks.  She had also invested her sister's entire life savings in secure low risk investments.  Ella was approached by a broker who informed her that he could get her a significantly higher return in the world of technology stocks. He  failed to tell Ella that he would be receiving a commission for each and every transaction that he conducted.  Ella eventually ended up paying approximately $7,000.00 month in transaction fees to the broker.  Clearly Ella was not suitable for any high risk stocks considering her age and the physical condition of her sister, and the broker simply took advantage of a sincere and needy client and charged outrageous commissions  because he knew Ella was not capable, nor had the experience to ask for a different fee schedule.  Ella lost approximately $150,000.00 in the market, and was grossly overcharged for the services rendered.  This case was resolved very favorably for the claimants.


Julie - 13 year old

Julie is a 13 year old girl who was severely injured in a playground accident which left her an incomplete quadriplegic.  She received funds in a settlement.  Her parents, and  guardian appointed by the state allowed her special needs trust money to be managed by a  major, "reputable," broker.  Approximately $1.7 million were turned over to the broker, who promptly invested in over 235 different individual stocks, and charged approximately $100,000.00 per year in commissions.  The only monies that Julie had, for medical needs for the rest of her life, were the funds given to this broker.  Instead of cautiously guarding against any sort of risk, Julie has now lost over $1.1 million of her funds.   This matter is currently pending, and our firm welcomes the opportunity to represent a client such as Julie.


Bill - airline pilot

Bill spent 30 years of his life as an airline pilot, and managed to put together a nice nest egg for he and his wife.  After a lifetime of hard work and dedicated service, Bill turned his entire life savings, retirement and pension monies over to a major brokerage firm.  Because Bill had little investment experience, he looked to his broker to guide him in the right direction.  Instead of prudently guarding against any sort of high risk investment, all of Bill's monies were immediately invested in stocks.  The broker told Bill to Atrust him@.  He invested Bill's money into very aggressive high tech stocks.  Bill's and his wife's plans were to travel around the country in a motor home that Bill had always dreamed of owning.  After 30 years of work, Bill was able to realize his goals and he and his wife took off to see places they had always dreamed about.  He relied upon his broker to do the right thing, and protect his nest egg.  Within 2 years, Bill had lost approximately a million and a half dollars in the market due to high risk,  unsuitable investments.  He had to declare bankruptcy, lost his dream motor home, ended up selling his house, and is now living a retirement life, very different from the one he had which he had hoped.


Joyce - widow

Joyce's husband was the chief financial officer for a fortune 500 company.  Joyce's husband took care of all of the bills and provided Joyce and family with a very comfortable life.  After his death, he had approximately $1.8 million which he left to Joyce.  Joyce had never handled any of the family's finance's  before and was completely alone and grieving when she was approached by a broker who assured her that he would prudently look after her money and ensure that she would have a comfortable retirement.  The broker sincerely told Joyce "to trust him."  He told Joyce that she did not need to be concerned about any of the transactions or the amounts of money that she was paying him.  He told her that he had Joyce's best interest at heart and that he would do everything he could to make sure she did not have to worry about money for the rest of her life.  Of the $1.8 million, the broker invested 100% in high risk stocks, and zero in fixed income instruments.  By 2001, Joyce had lost $1.5 million of the $1.8 million that was entrusted to the broker.  Every time Joyce would call the broker and inquire about her investment, the broker would tell her, "Joyce, everything is okay."  Today, Joyce has been left with $117,000.00 and daily worries about how she is going to make ends meet.

We are committed to our clients. If you or a family member has suffered a loss - call us day or night at 1-888-513-6198 or locally at 210-922-2200