After being fired from Waddell & Reed, a father and son advisory workforce lied to purchasers, saying they left the agency of their very own accord, however might nonetheless entry their accounts, in response to costs filed by the Securities and Alternate Fee.
The fee stated the duo went so far as impersonating purchasers on calls with their former agency.
The fee charged Kevin Kane and son Sean Michael Kane in Pennsylvania federal courtroom this week. Although their employer is called solely as ‘Funding Adviser 1’ within the criticism, BrokerCheck data reveal the Kanes each labored for Waddell & Reed in the course of the time interval in query.
The elder Kane joined in 2013, with earlier stints at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and Wells Fargo since coming into the trade in 1992. His son Sean joined Waddell & Reed in 2018, having labored in quite a lot of companies since 2010. Whereas working at Waddell & Reed, they operated as a workforce, sharing purchasers and compensation, and oversaw the investments of greater than 100 peopole with over $27 million in managed property.
However after an investigation, Waddell & Reed discovered the Kanes had undisclosed exterior enterprise associations, shared shopper data with a third-party and failed to guard shopper data by texting purchasers, sending them confidential data by way of encrypted electronic mail and use of private accounts, all in violation of agency insurance policies, in response to the SEC.
In response, the agency fired the duo on Feb. 23, 2021 and despatched a letter to their purchasers a number of days later stating the workforce was not with Waddell & Reed (although it didn’t go into the specifics of their departure), in response to the SEC. The agency warned the Kanes to not use any confidential shopper data, whereas the fired duo sought out one other advisor to work with as a way to switch their enterprise.
However the duo saved data on their purchasers in violation of the agency’s insurance policies, and purchasers of the Kanes reached out to them after getting the letter from Waddell & Reed. The duo informed purchasers they’d left voluntarily, however that they have been nonetheless related to Waddell & Reed and will entry their accounts.
None of this was true, in response to the fee.
Throughout this era, Waddell & Reed had been finalizing the sale of its brokerage enterprise to LPL Monetary, a $300 million acquisition initially introduced in late 2020. In a number of texts and telephone calls with purchasers, the Kanes allegedly informed purchasers their departure from the agency was primarily based on the LPL deal (LPL is called as ‘Funding Adviser 2’ within the criticism).
“On March 1, 2021, after studying concerning the Consumer Letter, Consumer A texted Kevin Kane asking whether or not the Kanes had ‘left [Investment Adviser 1]?!?’ and if that’s the case, ‘Now what?’” the criticism learn. “Kevin Kane replied, falsely, ‘No. Not but. Lol. [Investment Adviser 1] was purchased by [Investment Adviser 2]. Not proud of it however I’m nonetheless at my desk.’”
With purchasers, the Kanes continued in charge the acquisition and never their firing as the explanation for his or her leaving, in response to the fee. Beginning in early March, a couple of week after they’d been fired, some purchasers started asking the Kanes to buy securities with their Waddell & Reed advisory accounts.
When purchasers requested this, Kevin and Sean Kane started calling Waddell & Reed and impersonating purchasers to make the transactions, utilizing the shopper data they’d not returned to the agency, in response to the fee. This included an unnamed investor often known as ‘Consumer H,’ who known as Sean Kane a couple of disbursement from his account at Waddell & Reed. Once more, Kane didn’t disclose that he’d been fired and not had entry, the fee argued.
As a substitute, he used the shopper’s data, together with their birthday, Social Safety quantity and handle to impersonate them on a name with Waddell & Reed, in response to the SEC.
“Sean Kane tried to disguise his id from (Waddell & Reed) by coming into *67 earlier than he known as the agency,” the criticism learn. “Coming into *67 earlier than making a name permits a consumer to dam their Caller ID identify and quantity.”
However the alleged ruse didn’t final lengthy; on March 18, 2021 Waddell & Reed started suspecting the Kanes have been impersonating their purchasers in calls, and 5 days later, the agency despatched cease-and-desist letters to the duo, ordering them to cease and to return the shopper data they nonetheless held, in response to the fee.
Each Kanes have been registered with Cambridge Funding Analysis since late March of 2021, in response to their respective BrokerCheck histories. Neither Kevin Kane or his son might instantly be reached for remark, and a spokesperson for Cambridge stated the agency doesn’t touch upon “pending litigation issues.”
The SEC is searching for everlasting injunctions and civil penalties for the 2 advisors, in response to the criticism.