August 25, 2021

An arbitrator has paved the way for a 24-calendar year business veteran to distinct his file of a long-in the past consumer dispute right after locating that a previous PaineWebber supervisor had identified as the broker’s shoppers to drum up difficulties following he remaining the business in 2000.

Curtis J. Parry, who alongside with his brother Charles F. Parry, qualified prospects a large Wells Fargo Advisors exercise in Woodland Hills, California and Salt Lake Town was granted expungement of the 21-yr-previous criticism in an award finalized on August 19. 

Curtis Parry, who ranked 105th on Forbes’ 2021 checklist of ‘Best-in-State’ wealth advisors in California with $631 million in staff belongings, experienced submitted a assertion of claim with the Economic Sector Regulatory Authority versus PaineWebber successor organization UBS Fiscal Expert services in February of last calendar year.

In the underlying complaint, which sought unspecified damages about $5,000, the consumers experienced accused Parry of acquiring “certain securities for their accounts with no their acceptance.” It settled for $4,633.38, according to his BrokerCheck.

UBS did not oppose Curtis Parry’s ask for or take part in the hearing, in accordance to the award. The customers in the underlying complaint did not react to a detect of the expungement request or take part in the hearing.

Attained at his Wells business on Wednesday, Parry, who works out of Woodland Hills, appeared pleased with the result. 

“I would just say I’m grateful to Chelsea Masters who aided me out,” he stated, referring to his law firm. He declined more comment on the award or how the disclosure experienced impacted his job. 

Masters, who works at HLBS Law in Westminster, Colorado, did not react to a request for remark on the final result of the proceeding or why Parry only now sought expungement.

A UBS spokesperson declined to comment on the arbitration determination or Parry’s claims pertaining to his former supervisor.

The selection touches on the heated battles that can ensue when brokers go away and corporations struggle to maintain shoppers. 

The sole public arbitrator in Parry’s case, Constance Ellen Boukidis, dependent her choice in part on the alleged attempts by the Parry brothers’ ​former department manager to concoct consumer grievances after their departures in 2000 from PaineWebber. Parry had reported that the manager had contacted “a number” of clientele immediately after their departure “to persuade them to file complaints from Claimant and his brother,” in accordance to the award.

“There was a large amount of friction in between Claimant’s brother and the supervisor of the department, which led to his brother’s termination and Claimant’s resignation,” the arbitrator wrote in a lengthy rationalization. 

The arbitrator also pointed out that the brother, Charles, experienced been PaineWebber’s “top producer” at the time. Charles was discharged from PaineWebber in August for alleged “misrepresentation in the obtain of a certificate of deposit and buying and selling in an account with out right paperwork,” in accordance to BrokerCheck. 

Asked if he would seek out expungement of his discharge, Charles stated, “I’ve moved on with my daily life,” but extra that he accredited of his brother’s effort and hard work. 

Parry Personal Prosperity Management Group joined Wells in 2019 immediately after a 10 years at Merrill Lynch. It’s the 2nd sojourn at Wells for the brothers, who experienced used nine many years at the business subsequent their exits from PaineWebber.

The alleged situations in the fundamental criticism versus Curtis Parry had been tied to a complaint filed on September 28, 2000, two months right after the broker still left the business for Wells the very first time. 

The buyers introduced their dispute about Course C-share international mutual cash, but Boukidis found that they experienced been correctly knowledgeable of the allocation and that Parry’s recommendation was a prudent energy to diversify a modest part of their portfolio. 

“The Customers had been included in the specifics of all the investments and even gained a 70-web site binder that contained all of the proposals from Claimant and his brother,” she wrote.

Parry and the clients spoke on a regular basis amongst March and August of 2000 relating to the general performance of the portfolio, specifically as the technological innovation sector was declining by means of the year, and Parry’s manager, in the meantime, accredited all the recommendations created to the prospects, the arbitrator wrote.

Broker expungements have been in the spotlight as plaintiffs’ legal professionals have been criticizing the higher results charges brokers have in cleaning their file. Finra in May possibly shelved an first proposal that the plaintiff’s bar claimed as insufficient to control expungements. 

Invoice Singer, a securities lawyer who blogs about regulatory cases, explained the arbitrator’s rationale in this situation appeared well-reasoned. 

“Sometimes the gears all mesh completely and the machinery of justice grinds on efficiently,” he wrote. “This circumstance is a person this sort of hard work.”

Parry will have to acquire confirmation from a courtroom to expunge the ‘disclosure’ from his document, in accordance to Finra.