Securities Lawyers Blog
According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Brian Jack (Jack), previously associated with Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments, has at least one disclosable event. These events include one customer complaint, alleging that Jack recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a pending customer complaint with a damage request of $10,000.00 on March 18, 2024.
Allegation: Stolen funds/securities\<char_lb_r>\, \<char_lb_r>\, Allegation from [REDACTED]:\<char_lb_r>\, \<char_lb_r>\, I ended my relationship with Brian Jack in the middle of June 2023. He was no longer managing my portfolio. He said that as a Schwab broker, he would advise me the amount of my 2023 required minimum distribution and would be happy to make transfers from Schwab to a credit union. We agreed I would make all trades and be responsible for all buys and sells of investments. Brian would no longer be receiving commissions from my account. Per a conversation with Liam Stros at Schwab, Brian has illegally received monthly commissions totaling approximately $10,000 since June 2023. Brian never informed Schwab that our business relationship ended. \<char_lb_r>\, \<char_lb_r>\, Brief summary of events related to the allegation(s) including dates when activities leading to the allegation(s) occurred:\<char_lb_r>\, \<char_lb_r>\, I had multiple meetings with Ms. [REDACTED] starting in December 2022 to discuss the relationship and services to be provided. In June 2023, with a phone discussion on first quarter fees, [REDACTED] mentioned she would want to continue to work with me but did not want to pay the fee from the first quarter. I offered to reduce the fee schedule to the firm minimum .25% on the assets in the account and she agreed. Pinnacle Peak bills in arears so the fee reductions from .50% to .25% started at the beginning of the second quarter, which was 4/1/2023. During the period of June 2023 to January 2024, I continued to manage the account as normal. In January 2024, I noticed the delinked account on Alerts and called [REDACTED] to find out what was wrong. She wanted to manage the account on her own. She did not want the ongoing fee to service and manage the account. I notified [REDACTED] that I could not reduce the fee any lower than the .25% the accounts were being charged after the first reduction as of 4/1/2023. I also made her aware that delinking the account would mean that I would no longer be able to work with her. Soon after, I received a voice message from “[REDACTED]” (No complete name or number left on the message) that he was speaking on behalf of [REDACTED] who stated she was unhappy and felt the fees were not fair and that [REDACTED] would be filing a complaint with the SEC. On January 10th, 2024, I called [REDACTED] to let her know about the message and asked her what I had done wrong. I additionally asked her what I could do to make her feel whole. She told me that she appreciated all of the work I did with the management of the assets, consolidation of the accounts, RMD and distribution processing, but she would feel better if I reversed the fees on all three accounts from 10/1/2023-1/1/2024. That included the billing period of 7/1/2023-12/31/2023 (6 Months) which totaled $3,116.40. I told [REDACTED] that I would mail a check. I asked her again if that was what she thought was fair and she said yes. She also agreed to contact the SEC and withdraw the complaint. As a courtesy to Ms. [REDACTED] and in order to appease any negative experience, Pinnacle Peak is willing to further adjust billing to annul the advisory fee paid by Ms. [REDACTED] for 50% of the month of June ($257.70).