brokerwatch

Pinnacle Associates & Charles Schwab | Apple Options Strategy Lawsuit

In July 2021, a retiree sued Pinnacle Associates alleging that it misrepresented an options strategy that forced her to sell hundreds of shares of Apple stock that resulted in a large investment loss. In August 2022, a FINRA arbitration panel awarded approximately $800,000 to the customer.

According to Barron’s, the Claimant was initially referred by her Charles Schwab broker the Pinnacle Associates, which is a New York-based firm that was founded in 1984 and currently has about $7.7 billion in assets under management. Pinnacle custodies clients assets at Charles Schwab and pays Charles Schwab a fee based on a percentage of the value of the assets in the client’s account.

According to the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website, two Pinnacle Associates investment advisers, Jonathan Don Mark and Donald Maurer Dowd, were involved in the options call strategy that caused losses to the retiree. Neither investment adviser was named individually as a Respondent or found individually liable for any amount of the award.

Referred to Pinnacle Associates by Charles Schwab?

According to its Form CRS, Pinnacles Associates is an SEC-registered investment adviser offering investment advisory services to institutional and non-institutional clients for an asset-based fee based on the market value of investments in each client’s account. Financial advisors at Pinnacle Associates have a legal obligation and regulatory obligation to recommend only suitable investments that are appropriate for their clients. Their broker-dealer has a legal and regulatory obligation to supervise the financial advisor’s sales practices and dealings with clients. To the extent that any of these duties are breached, the customer may be entitled to a recovery of their investment losses.

Based on our experience, we believe that some investors may have been the victims of investment fraud at Pinnacle Associates. If you suffered investment losses with Pinnacle Associates, contact Peiffer Wolf immediately for a FREE Consultation 585-310-5140.

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