The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker John Greg Schmidt. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, John Greg Schmidt has been the subject of multiple customer complaints.
John Greg Schmidt was an Ohio based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for thirty-seven years. During his career, he was registered with seven different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.
His Registrations
- IDS Financial Services (1980-1986)
- Prudential-Bache Securities (1986-1990)
- Painewebber Incorporated (1990-1996)
- First Union Capital Markets Corp. (1996-1999)
- First Union Securities (1999-2002)
- Stifel, Nicolaus & Company (2002-2006)
- Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network (2006-2017)
The Allegations
John Greg Schmidt was officially sanctioned by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in September 2018. The findings in this matter state that he executed a fourteen year long investment scheme between 2003 and 2017 designed to misappropriate funds from his customers in a Ponzi like manner. On numerous occasions, John Greg Schmidt allegedly liquidated his customer’s investments without their authorization and used the newly liquidated funds to cover shortfalls in the accounts of other customers. According to the SEC, Schmidt converted over $1.16 million from the accounts of seven member firm customers. These funds were then allegedly used to cover losses in the accounts of ten different customers. This scheme began when these ten customers started making numerous withdrawals from their accounts that started to eat into their principal investments. Instead of communicating this fact with these customers, John Greg Schmidt allegedly created falsified account statements designed to assure these customers that these withdrawals would not damage their principals. The seven customers who had their funds stolen were mostly elderly individuals suffering from some form of dementia or Alzheimer’s. In fact, five of these customers actually passed away while the scheme was being perpetrated. Over the course of this fourteen year long scheme, John Greg Schmidt allegedly received a total of $230,000 in commissions from all seventeen customers. Multiple attorneys representing the customers or customer’s heirs have filed complaints against Wells Fargo regarding these heinous allegations. The cases are listed as follows;
- Case filed on October, 25th 2017. Settled for $850,000 in damages.
- Case filed on October, 27th 2017. Settled for $199,443 in damages.
- Case filed on December, 4th 2017. Settled for $167,059 in damages.
- Case filed on December, 4th 2017. Settled for $1.5 million in damages.
- Case filed on January, 5th 2018. Settled for $704,342 in damages.
- Case filed on January, 11th 2018. Settled for $280,000 in damages.
- Case filed on February, 26th 2018. Settled for $309,778 in damages.
Due to these allegations, John Greg Schmidt was terminated from his position at Wells Fargo in October 2017. He was forced to pay $234,614 in disgorgement to the afflicted customers. He was barred from acting as a securities broker in any fashion by both FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was also convicted of ‘Theft From an Elderly or Disabled Adult’, ‘Fraud or Deceit by Investment Adviser’, ‘Telecommunications Fraud’, and ‘Forgery’.
Oakes & Fosher Can Help
Many investors are unaware of the legal recourse available to them after losing money due to securities broker fraud and/or negligence. The truth is that investors who have lost money in this fashion may actually be entitled to damages.
Oakes & Fosher dedicates its entire legal practice to helping investors across the nation. If you, or someone you know, have lost money investing with John Greg Schmidt, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation.
