After being fired from Waddell & Reed, a father and son advisory crew lied to shoppers, saying they left the agency of their very own accord, however might nonetheless entry their accounts, based on costs filed by the Securities and Trade Fee.
The fee mentioned the duo went so far as impersonating shoppers 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 known as solely as ‘Funding Adviser 1’ within the grievance, BrokerCheck information 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 getting into the business 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 crew, sharing shoppers 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 shoppers, sending them confidential data by means of encrypted electronic mail and use of private accounts, all in violation of agency insurance policies, based on the SEC.
In response, the agency fired the duo on Feb. 23, 2021 and despatched a letter to their shoppers a number of days later stating the crew was not with Waddell & Reed (although it didn’t go into the specifics of their departure), based on 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 in an effort to switch their enterprise.
However the duo stored data on their shoppers in violation of the agency’s insurance policies, and shoppers of the Kanes reached out to them after getting the letter from Waddell & Reed. The duo instructed shoppers that they had left voluntarily, however that they had been nonetheless related to Waddell & Reed and will entry their accounts.
None of this was true, based on 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 cellphone calls with shoppers, the Kanes allegedly instructed shoppers their departure from the agency was primarily based on the LPL deal (LPL is known as as ‘Funding Adviser 2’ within the grievance).
“On March 1, 2021, after studying concerning the Shopper Letter, Shopper A texted Kevin Kane asking whether or not the Kanes had ‘left [Investment Adviser 1]?!?’ and if that’s the case, ‘Now what?’” the grievance learn. “Kevin Kane replied, falsely, ‘No. Not but. Lol. [Investment Adviser 1] was purchased by [Investment Adviser 2]. Not pleased with it however I’m nonetheless at my desk.’”
With shoppers, the Kanes continued accountable the acquisition and never their firing as the explanation for his or her leaving, based on the fee. Beginning in early March, a couple of week after that they had been fired, some shoppers started asking the Kanes to buy securities with their Waddell & Reed advisory accounts.
When shoppers requested this, Kevin and Sean Kane started calling Waddell & Reed and impersonating shoppers to make the transactions, utilizing the shopper data that they had not returned to the agency, based on the fee. This included an unnamed investor generally known as ‘Shopper 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, based on the SEC.
“Sean Kane tried to disguise his id from (Waddell & Reed) by getting into *67 earlier than he known as the agency,” the grievance learn. “Coming into *67 earlier than making a name permits a person 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 had been impersonating their shoppers 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, based on the fee.
Each Kanes have been registered with Cambridge Funding Analysis since late March of 2021, based on their respective BrokerCheck histories. Neither Kevin Kane or his son might instantly be reached for remark, and a spokesperson for Cambridge mentioned the agency doesn’t touch upon “pending litigation issues.”
The SEC is looking for everlasting injunctions and civil penalties for the 2 advisors, based on the grievance.