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Articles Tagged with Misappropriation

In August, we told you about John Cochran Maccoll (CRD #839441) who was barred by FINRA after multiple fraud allegations. Since then, there have been two additional developments.

Another customer has come forward and filed a complaint on 08/16/2018, alleging misappropriation of client funds from 10/01/2015 through 08/16/2018. The case was settled for $158,163.76. No additional information is available. This case is in addition to the previous cases we described in the earlier blog post.

The SEC Has Proposed New Regulations for Fiduciaries on silverlaw.comOn 8/9/2018, The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan filed criminal charges against Maccoll in an action initiated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC.) In it, the SEC detailed how Maccoll persuaded investors, mostly elderly, into investing in what he described as a “highly sought after private fund investment.”  These investors, most of them retired, used their retirement accounts to fund their alleged investments. In return, Maccoll promised a 20% return on investment, as well as diversifying their portfolios and better growth potential than their current investment portfolios.

Silver Law Group is investigating former New Jersey-based Morgan Stanley (CRD# 149777) broker Barry F. Connell (CRD# 3070984) over SEC allegations that he stole money from his customers.

According to the SEC complaint, Connell misappropriated approximately $5 million from Morgan Stanley clients from December 2015 through November 2016.  Allegedly, Connell carried out the scheme primarily by moving funds between certain client accounts and issuing wire transfers and checks from the accounts to third parties for his benefit.  Over the course of approximately eleven (11) months, Connell made 100 unauthorized transactions, according to the SEC complaint.

According to Connell’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, Morgan Stanley discharged Connell in November 2016 after the allegations surfaced.

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