Erez Law continues to investigate Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor Edward Louis Barger (CRD# 1360282). Erez Law represents a former customer of Barger who alleges that he recommended a reckless and unsuitable concentration of her portfolio in speculative energy sector investments. Barger was registered with Morgan Stanley for 8 years from 2008 to 2016. He is not currently registered at this time with any financial institution.
Erez Law recently filed a FINRA arbitration claim on behalf of one of Barger’s former clients, a retired widow with irreplaceable retirement savings.
The Erez Law client turned to Barger to make low risk investments to preserve her principal and focus on safe income generation. She was risk averse, and she alleges that Barger assured her that he would only make safe investments. Barger’s former client alleges that Barger assured her that he had strict safety measures and controls in place to guard against losses.
The retired Florida resident invested cash and a diversified common and preferred stocks of blue chip companies from a variety of market sectors. The client alleges that Barger recommended that she sell almost all of the blue chip stocks that she owned and instead invest in a portfolio that was dangerously over concentrated in high risk and unsuitable energy sector investments. The client alleges that Barger exposed her to an extreme sector risk and significantly increased the level of risk to which her irreplaceable retirement savings were exposed. Barger failed to recommend an adequately diversified and suitable portfolio for his client and failed to disclose the significant risk inherent to his unsuitable and reckless strategy. As such, Barger’s mismanagement and unsuitable recommendations caused the client to suffer devastating financial losses of $1 million.
It is alleged that Barger recommended that his customer invest in the following oil sector investments:
- Sandridge Energy
- Center Coast MLP & Infrastructure Fund
- Seadrill Ltd.
- Goldman Sachs MLP Energy Return Fund
- Kayne Anderson MLP
- OPI Steelpath MLP Income C
- Clearbridge American Energy MLP
- Cobalt International Energy
- Center Coast MLP Focus A
- Cushing MLP Total Return Fund
- CVR Refining
- Kayne Anderson Energy Total
Erez Law represents investors in the United States for claims against Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor Edward Louis Barger, who is alleged to recommended a reckless and unsuitable concentration of clients’ portfolios in speculative energy sector investments.
A broker must have reasonable grounds for each recommendation made to investors considering such factors as the customer’s other securities holdings, financial situation, and risk tolerance. In addition, before a firm offers a security to its customers, the firm must conduct due diligence, investigating the facts surrounding the security, to confirm that it is suitable for any customer of the firm. The suitability of an investment for a particular individual is at the center of the investment process and one of the key duties owed by a firm and its broker to the customer. A firm may be held liable for its failure to recommend suitable investments to its customers.
In addition, pursuant to FINRA Rules, member firms are responsible for supervising a broker’s activities during the time the broker is registered with the firm. Therefore, Morgan Stanley may be liable for investment or other losses suffered by Barger’s customers for negligent supervision.
If you were a client of Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor Edward Louis Barger, and have experienced investment losses or financial irregularities, please call us at 888-840-1571 or complete our contact form. Erez Law is a nationally recognized law firm representing individuals, trusts, corporations and institutions in claims against brokerage firms, banks and insurance companies.
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