Another Win In The Fight Against Corporate Greed

Finra arbitrators order Schwab to pay 347000 to RIA owner for allegedly helping competitor

Girard Bengali

August 6, 2019

Firm partners, Robert Girard and Omar Bengali, were today quoted in an article about the firm’s recent victory for their client.

Summary:
Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. ordered to pay $347,000 to Laguna Financial Group
Former chief compliance officer of the firm secretly established her own business to compete with LFG while still working at LFG
The three-person Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. arbitration panel found Schwab liable for $200,000 in compensatory damages, $47,001.12 in costs and $100,000 in attorneys’ fees

“Finra arbitrators ordered Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. to pay $347,000 to the owner of a registered investment advisory firm for allegedly helping a former official of the RIA lure millions of dollars of assets to her own advisory firm.”

“This case involved business and ethical violations by Charles Schwab in its capacity as a broker-dealer firm administering custodial platform services to an RIA,” Robert J. Girard II, founding partner of the Girard Bengali law firm and an attorney for Mr. Ziomek and LFG, said in a statement. “Schwab lied about its involvement and took advantage of LFG’s reliance on Schwab’s supposed good faith dealings. While Schwab profited from this misplaced trust, the Finra panel administered the appropriate justice.”
Source: https://www.investmentnews.com/article/20190806/FREE/190809962/finra-arbitrators-order-schwab-to-pay-347000-to-ria-owner-for

Read the full article here