More Investors Sue For Losses Sustained While Working With Ex-Fortune Financial Services Broker Richard Wesselt. More Than Three Dozen Investment Loss Recovery Claims Filed By Former Customers
Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Unsuitability Attorney teams (investorlawyers.com) is continuing to investigate allegations that ex-Fortune Financial Services stockbroker Richard Wesselt made unsuitable investment recommendations to customers, which caused them to sustain losses. According to Wesselt’s CRD he has 43 disclosures, and most of these are investment loss recovery claims.
In the still pending unsuitability cases, former customers are collectively seeking almost $5M in damages. Most of the other investor claims resulted in settlements, including one for $1.5M and many for five- or six-figures. Other allegations made against Wesselt include making misrepresentations and omissions about the products he purportedly unsuitably recommended—including overselling them—churning, having clients take loans from policies, purportedly forging their signatures on loan documents, and more.
Previous to becoming a Fortune Financial registered representative from 2017 to 2020, Wesselt was with The ON Equity Sales Company from 2014 to 2017. Some of the customer disputes seem to be from when he was a financial advisor for that firm.
Richard Wesselt was permanently barred by FINRA in 2020. He worked 28 years in the industry.
Unsuitable Investment Recommendations Can Cause Investor Losses
FINRA Rule 2111 requires that brokers have reasonable grounds for thinking an investment, a strategy, or a transaction is appropriate for an investor. This requires having a solid understanding of both the customer and what they are recommending.
Not all investments are appropriate for everyone. The investor’s financial circumstances, tax status, age, investment goals, investing experience, liquidity needs, and risk tolerance level are among the factors that a broker needs to consider before making a recommendation.
Unsuitability continues to be a leading cause of investment loss recovery claims. There are brokers that will make unsuitable investment recommendations because of the high commissions they can earn from selling a too-risky financial product to a customer—this is a conflict of interest and a disregard of the investor’s best interests, which is a possible Regulation BI violation.
What Should You Do If You Suffered Serious Annuity Losses While Working With Ex-Pennsylvania Financial Broker Richard Wesselt?
Contact us today to schedule your free initial consultation. You can also call our trusted unsuitability attorney teams at (800) 259-9010.
We work on a contingency basis. This means that you would only pay us for our securities law services if we obtained a financial recovery for you; payment for those fees would come from the award or settlement and not directly from your own pocket.