Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) has agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to settle Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges related to alleged supervisory failures that enabled financial advisors to steal millions from client accounts through unauthorized transfers.

Morgan Stanley to Pay $15M Fine Over Financial Advisors' Client Fund Theft Claims

The SEC investigation revealed that MSSB lacked adequate policies to prevent and detect unauthorized third-party disbursements, including Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments and specific patterns of wire transfers, from customer accounts. Between May 2015 and July 2022, several MSSB advisors exploited these gaps to make hundreds of unauthorized transfers for personal benefit.

Until December 2022, the firm had no screening process to flag ACH payments where the financial advisor's name matched the payment beneficiary.

“Safeguarding investor assets is a fundamental duty of every financial services firm, but MSSB’s supervisory and compliance policy failures let its financial advisors make hundreds of unauthorized transfers from their customer and client accounts and put many other such accounts at significant risk of harm,” said Sanjay Wadhwa, Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

“However, today’s resolution also takes into account the firm’s several self-reports to, and substantial cooperation with, the Commission staff and its remedial efforts, including compensating the financial advisors’ victims and retaining a compliance consultant to conduct a comprehensive review of the relevant policies and procedures,” he continued.

The settlement includes a censure and requires MSSB to retain a compliance consultant to review all third-party cash disbursement procedures. The firm has already compensated affected clients for their losses.

This is not the first fine for MSSB this year, as Morgan Stanley’s unit paid a $1.6 million fine to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in February. According to FINRA’s statement, the penalty arises from the firm's repeated failures to promptly resolve failed inter-dealer municipal securities transactions and to take timely measures to secure physical possession or control of municipal security positions exceeding 30 calendar days.

SEC Charges Ian Bell

In a separate case, the SEC has charged Ian G. Bell, with orchestrating a sophisticated day-trading fraud scheme that targeted professional athletes and other investors, amassing over $1.3 million in ill-gotten gains.

The scheme, which operated from July 2020 to March 2023, ensnared at least 29 investors through a web of deception that included fabricated trading performance reports and false statements about investment returns. Bell allegedly exploited a network of referrals, as satisfied investors unknowingly promoted his fraudulent scheme to family and friends based on manipulated performance data.

“When things sound too good to be true, they often are, which is why it is crucial that investors research any firm or individual who is seeking to manage their hard-earned money, even if they come recommended by friends of family,” said Jason Burt, Regional Director of the SEC’s Denver office.

“As for those individuals who are looking to follow in this defendant’s footsteps, know that your odds of getting away with it are exceedingly low,” he advised.

In the fiscal year 2024, SEC was able to collect a record $8.2 billion in recoveries and fines. The total amount jumped by 65.5% from $4.9 billion reported a year earlier.