Those who inherit estate money must investigate a potential stockbroker or investment broker before they lose what’s left of their loved ones.
estate recipients depend on loved one's legacy
The last thing you want to think about when you have lost a loved one is what you are going to do with your inheritance. That is why it is easy to by-pass an investigation of your stockbroker or investment broker. But if you don’t get a safety rating from Investor’s Watchdog, you are at risk. Consider the example of Mark Greenway.
The Securities Division of Missouri issued a cease and desist order against Mark Greenway for securities fraud and deceit, for defrauding two sisters of more than $1.3 million of their inheritance. The sisters initially invested $630,000 with Greenway, and then invested additional funds over several years.
The order alleges that Greenway opened a joint checking account in his name and the sisters’ names by forging their signatures. The sisters had no knowledge of these accounts. He then withdrew the money to purchase classic cars for himself, make payments for other businesses, pay his own credit card bills, and purchase certificates of deposit in his and his wife’s name.
Greenway was not registered to sell securities in Missouri and had been previously barred by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from associating with any broker-dealer or investment adviser, because he was found to have committed fraud. This wasn’t a first time offense for Greenway. He had a track record, yet that didn’t slow him down. He targeted people who had just come into estate money, knowing that they would be looking for something to do with it.
While those who inherit investments often spend little time investigating the background of the broker who asks for their business, without some level of scrutiny of the broker the inheritance can turn from a windfall to a distant memory in a matter of weeks or months. That leaves the investor not only without their recently departed loved one, but also without the legacy the loved one had planned for them.
Investor’s Watchdog can help ensure that the inheritance does what the departed loved one intended it to do.
