Former Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer, Deutsche Bank Broker is Ordered by FINRA To Pay Investor $11M Over Alleged Securities Fraud

A FINRA arbitration panel is ordering ex-broker Karl Hahn, who previously worked with Bank of America Corp’s (BAC) Merrill Lynch (MER), Oppenheimer & Co. (OPY), and Deutsche Bank AG’s (DB) Deutsche Bank Securities, to pay investor Chase Bailey $11 million because he sustained about $6 million in losses allegedly caused by securities fraud. Bailey contends that Hahn made excessive trades and misrepresented securities related to transactions involving a number of investments, including a variable annuity, approximately $2.3 million in fraudulent real estate financing involving East Coast properties, and covered calls.

In the filmmaker/Internet entrepreneur’s securities arbitration claim, Bailey named the three financial firms where Hahn previously worked. It is during this period that Bailey was allegedly defrauded. (He had moved his funds from one brokerage firm to the other each time Hahn was hired by that employer.) Bailey settled his case with Merrill for $700,000, while claims against Deutsche Bank and Oppenheimer were tossed out.

Per the FINRA arbitration ruling, Bailey is awarded $6.4 million in punitive damages and $4.1 million in compensatory damage. Ordering brokers to pay punitive damages is uncommon.

In February, Deutsche Bank & Hahn were ordered to pay $934,000 to Susan and Michael Myers. The couple, who had sued on their behalf and for a number of trusts, had claimed civil fraud, while contending that financial firm had negligently supervised Hahn, who worked in its private wealth management division between 2008 and 2009.

The Myerses had bought high-risk life insurance in which policyholders use loans usually tied to variable interest rates to finance premiums. Hahn, who advised the couple via Deutsche Bank, allegedly failed to tell them that his dad would get a “significant” commission from that life insurance policy. They said that this might have been the reason he recommended that they invest in the policy. (Brokers are not supposed to make investment recommendations that will benefit them or those that they know.) The Myerses claimed substantial losses.

Hahn has been involved in other securities cases. He was charged with wire fraud involving an alleged $1.1 million real estate scam in 2010. He also was involved in a $2.55 million federal court judgment that Deutsche Bank obtained in 2012. That lawsuit involved the unpaid balance of a $2.8 million bonus he got when he joined the financial firm.

Contact Our Securities Fraud Law Firm
If you believe that you too were the victim of securities fraud involving Mr. Hahn or another broker, please contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP today to request your free case evaluation. You may have reason to file your own stockbroker fraud claim.

Ex-Merrill, Deutsche Bank Broker Ordered to Pay Client $11 Million, Fox, April 5, 2013
U.S. panel orders Deutsche Bank, ex-adviser to pay $934,000, Reuters, February 14, 2013

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Court Upholds Ex-NBA Star Horace Grant $1.46M FINRA Arbitration Award from Morgan Keegan & Co. Over Mortgage-Backed Bond Losses, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, October 30, 2012

UBS Loses Appeal to Have FHFA’s $6.4 Billion MBS Fraud Lawsuit Dismissed, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, April 18, 2013