FINRA Bars Ex-Wells Fargo Broker After Fraud Complaint

Although Wells Fargo was the only respondent named in the complaint, Marquardt was a subject of the dispute, according to FINRA.

The client requested at least $150,000 in compensatory damages, bargain damages, lost opportunity costs, model portfolio damages, prejudgment interest, costs, reasonable attorneys’ fees, punitive damages and “other appropriate relief.”

After a FINRA Office of Dispute Resolution hearing, an arbitration panel awarded the client compensatory damages of $115,856 plus 6% interest and reimbursement fees of $300 on Feb. 16, 2018.

In his defense at the time, Marquardt said he was “not named as a party and no relief was sought against me,” adding the arbitration panel “did not make any finding that I violated any law, rule or regulation.”

“We hold all advisors to the highest ethical standards,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman Shea Leordeanu told ThinkAdvisor on Friday, adding that Marquardt was no longer affiliated with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network.

Marquardt joined Cetera Advisors in August 2020, according to FINRA.

Cetera and James H. West, a partner at the law firm West, Edwards & Associates who represented Marquardt, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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