Meyer Wilson is looking into allegations of broker misconduct against broker Samuel Boyce Rankin (CRD# 811491).
Rankin currently works with UBS Financial Services Inc. in Charlotte, N.C., where he has been registered since April 2009. He has been working in the securities industry for more than 40 years.
According to his BrokerCheck Report from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Samuel Rankin has two complaints pending against him.
In one complaint filed in September 2017, a customer alleges Rankin misallocated their accounts in overly-aggressive investments. The customer is seeking more than $849,000 in damages.
The other pending complaint was filed in July 2017, also alleging overly-aggressive investments. The customer claims Samuel Rankin failed to follow instructions to invest their retirement funds according to a “moderate” risk tolerance. The customer further accuses Rankin of creating a cover-up to deceive the customer after the alleged misallocation was discovered. The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
Samuel Rankin’s BrokerCheck report shows three prior complaints have been resolved through settlement. In July 2010, a customer complained that Rankin failed to follow her instructions to liquidate her account, resulting in a claimed loss of $60,000. The complaint was settled in March 2011 for $24,999.
Two settled complaints filed in February and July 2003 pertained to funds managed by Samuel Rankin that were part of accounts brought to his then-employer Citigroup by other advisors.
The first of these complaints evolved into a broker misconduct class action lawsuit against Citigroup and the advisors who brought the accounts to Citigroup. This class action was settled in March 2007 for $17.6 million. Rankin was a named party in the lawsuit but did not contribute to the settlement.
The second complaint, based on the same set of facts, raised claims against Citigroup and a group of advisors for unsuitability, overconcentration, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. This complaint was settled in May 2006 for $42,000. Samuel Rankin was not a party to the settlement and did not contribute to the settlement.
Rankin’s BrokerCheck report shows the following registrations preceded his current UBS registration:
Brokers owe it to their customers to exercise the same level of care that any reasonable and prudent person would use under the same circumstances. When broker misconduct fails to meet that standard – such as by reallocating funds into risky investments that a reasonable, prudent advisor would not have chosen – that broker and their supervising brokerage firm may be liable for any resulting losses under a theory of negligence.
In addition to their duty of care, brokers operate under a fiduciary duty to their customers. Their fiduciary duty imposes specific obligations on the broker to always act in the clients’ best interest.
Brokers, for example, are expected to place their clients’ interests ahead of their own or that of their firm. They must keep an eye on their client’s investments and the financial environment, taking care to keep the client informed about their investments. Failing to satisfy these duties may cause financial losses and could constitute actionable broker misconduct.
When broker misconduct results in losses for the customer, Meyer Wilson can help. Through their efforts, clients have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars that would have otherwise been lost. Call today for a free initial consultation.
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