J. P. Morgan Securities, LLC (“J. P. Morgan”) employed San Francisco Financial Advisor Edward Turley (“Mr. Turley”) and it is being sued for his alleged misconduct involving a highly speculative trading investment strategy in highly leveraged accounts. We represent a family in the Midwest who built a successful manufacturing business and entrusted their savings to J. P. Morgan and its financial advisor and lost millions of dollars. We have filed a FINRA arbitration proceeding on behalf of our clients against the brokerage firm and summarized the allegations below.
Mr. Turley and one of our clients were members of the Citation Jet Pilot Owners Association (“CJP”). Our clients were solicited to open accounts with J. P. Morgan along with other CJP members. This is the fourth case filed against J. P. Morgan for Mr. Turley’s alleged misrepresentations and misleading statements relating to recommended investments and an investment strategy that were not only allegedly unsuitable but allegedly mismanaged by the J.P. Morgan investment adviser and stockbroker in clients’ accounts.
Mr. Turley allegedly exercised discretion without written authority and when he allegedly took control of Claimants’ accounts, he engaged in a speculative, over-leveraged fixed income investment strategy involving excessive trading of high yield “junk” bonds, foreign bonds, preferred stocks, exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), master limited partnerships (“MLPs”), and foreign currencies.
In June 2019, Claimants allege Mr. Turley recklessly increased the risks (market, over-concentration, interest rate, leverage, commodities, and foreign currency) to which Claimants and their accounts were exposed. He made a multi-million dollar investment in unregistered Nine Energy notes rated B- (speculative) and many more speculative investments in Claimants’ accounts. Mr. Turley turned over the fixed income assets with new investments in “new issue” preferred stocks underwritten by J.P. Morgan, for which he allegedly received “seller concessions” paid at a much higher percentage than regular commissions on other securities transactions. The Claimants’ entire portfolio became over-concentrated in the financial and energy sectors. The leverage was increased and the Claimants’ accounts became ticking time bombs ready to explode at any moment, and indeed they did explode in March 2020 when the market collapsed, and Claimants realized substantial losses in their accounts.
Stockbrokers have been known to engage in many practices that may violate industry and firm rules, practices, and procedures. In order to protect investors from stockbroker fraud and other stockbroker misconduct, FINRA rules require brokerage firms to establish and implement a supervisory system. The implementation of these industry rules requires supervisors to monitor their employees to ensure compliance with federal and state securities laws, securities industry rules and regulations, and the brokerage firm’s own policies and procedures. If broker-dealers and/or their supervisors fail to establish and implement these protective measures, they may be liable to investors for damages which flow from the broker’s misconduct. Therefore, investors who have suffered losses stemming from a misrepresented investment, an unsuitable recommendation, and/or other misconduct by their broker can file claims to recover damages against broker-dealers, like J. P. Morgan Securities, which should consistently oversee its brokers’ activities in order to prevent the above-described misconduct.
Have you suffered losses in your J. P. Morgan account due to a misrepresented investment, an unsuitable recommendation, and/or an over-concentrated account that was mismanaged by your broker? Was Edward Turley your stockbroker? If so, call Robert Pearce at the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. for a free consultation. Mr. Pearce is accepting clients with valid claims against J. P. Morgan stockbrokers who may have engaged in stockbroker fraud and other stockbroker misconduct and caused investors’ losses.
The most important of investors’ rights is the right to be informed! This Investors’ Rights blog post is by the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., located in Boca Raton, Florida. For over 40 years, Attorney Pearce has tried, arbitrated, and mediated hundreds of disputes involving complex securities, commodities and investment law issues. The lawyers at our law firm are devoted to protecting investors’ rights throughout the United States and internationally! Please visit our website, www.secatty.com, post a comment, call (800) 732-2889, or email Mr. Pearce at pearce@rwpearce.com for answers to any of your questions about this blog post and/or any related matter.