FINRA fined former Morgan Stanley broker Steven Wyatt $12,500 and suspended him for four months in a consent agreement issued last July.* The agreement states Mr. Wyatt purchased shares of Morris Innovative, a medical device company, without his employer's knowledge and then secretly directed several Morgan Stanley clients to invest their money in the same company.
The order states Mr. Wyatt purchased $58,750 (43,518 shares) in the company in October 2009 and February 2010. Mr. Wyatt, however, purchased the shares in his wife's name. Mr. Wyatt did so without notifying Morgan Stanley of his private stock-trading activities- a big no-no in the world of FINRA and securities regulation. Mr. Wyatt also used his personal Yahoo email account to recommend purchasing shares of the company instead of using his Morgan Stanley email account. The order states the applicable regulation:
NASD Rule 3040(b) requires associated persons to provide written notice to their member firm employer "prior to participating in any private securities transaction." The term "private securities transaction," as defined in NASD Rule 3040(e)(1), means any security transaction outside the regular course or scope of an associated person's employment with a member, and applies to both sales and purchases of securities.
Mr. Wyatt brought four of his clients to a meeting with company representatives. Mr. Wyatt naturally promised "an overwhelming rate of return". Morgan Stanley fired Mr. Wyatt after the allegations were raised. The FINRA website reports other claims and awards against Mr. Wyatt:
July 22, 2014: Pending customer dispute. Customer requests $647,037 in damages. Alleged breach of fiduciary duty to client's account.
July 26, 2013: Pending customer dispute. Customer requests $1,279,340 in damages. Alleged misrepresentation of investments in client's account.
July 13, 2013: Pending customer dispute. Customer requests $2,305,673 in damages. Alleged misrepresentation of investments in client's account.
April 16, 2013: $440,000 awarded to customer. Requested $1,724,666.
March 19, 2013: Pending customer dispute. Alleged misrepresentation of investments in client's account.
June 26, 2102: Pending customer dispute. Customer requests $4,429,613 in damages. Alleged churning.
January 4, 2012: $150,985 awarded to customer. Customer requested $1 million in damages. Alleged churning.
February 26, 2012: $387,856 awarded to customer. Customer requested $2,697,566 in damages. Alleged churning.
*The Breese law office is an advertiser on this site and is representing several parties against Morgan Stanley and Steven Wyatt.
17 comments:
So what has Delbert's office done?
This story will grow AND grow from here.
What has Delbert's office done? Same thing as everything else that relates to his office.
Nothing. But just wait - he will take credit for anything he can rewrite and make it sound like he's God's favorite gift.
I believe Delbert will actually look into this and see the light. His buddy Fred Brister has deceived him on this. The hundreds of victims and $millions lost through fraud by Ridgeland Morgan Stanley will be seen by the SOS office.
Wyatt, is obviously a con artist!
Did anyone look into insurance fraud after his Eastover renovation home mysteriously burned to the ground?
The corruption that goes down in Eastover stays in Eastover.
I'm not a lawyer but I thought the SOS office regulated state registered security dealers, not FINRA regulated national dealers like Morgan Stanley. It is more fun to bitch & whine about Delbert, but....,.
SOS has jurisdiction over any broker and firm registered in the state.
I would think Morgan Stanley is not a state registered securities dealer, but a national firm thus under the scrutiny of FINRA....not SOS. more fum to bitch about Delbert though,
"I would think Morgan Stanley is not a state registered securities dealer, but a national firm thus under the scrutiny of FINRA....not SOS. more fum to bitch about Delbert though"
Nope, any branch of a firm has to be registered in the state where it does business, as do any registered reps who are either domiciled in the state or who have clients who are Mississippi residents.
This will be interesting to follow to see if the "Good Old Boy" saga or justice will prevail.
Don't see how the SOS can sweep this under the rug. This is criminal!,
Is this just another one of those cases where the big boys with all ther lawyers try to intimidate the little guys?
I have heard from very reliable sources that there is a lot more to these cases than the public knows.......YET!
I am one of the victims filing a claim against Morgan Stanley's Ridgeland office, Branch Manager Fred Brister, Steve Wyatt and Hilary Zimmerman. It is hard to believe what went on in this office:
1. Cover up of Wyatt's crazy trading/personal behavior,
2. Management switching client stocks and funds after hours between accounts to cover up Wyatt's trading errors,
3. Allowing Wyatt to trade his personal account to his profit before his managed accounts,
4. Office staff and brokers deliberately falsely testifying under oath,
5. Morgan Stanley withholding critical documents.
This whole thing is a mess that cost over a hundred clients probably $30 - $40 million in losses. Morgan Stanley put their interests way ahead of clients in the Ridgeland office.
I trusted them completely. It has been a devastating betrayal.
Beware of these people!!!!
I am also a victim of the unbelievable actions of Wyatt, Zimmerman and Brister. The longer this goes on, the more criminal behavior is revealed. It is dumbfounding that a "so called" ethical company no only allowed this, but actually assisted in trying to cover it up.
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