Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP Investigating Claims Involving Blake Richards And LPL Financial LLC

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Sep 03, 2014, 12:38 ET

ATLANTA, Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Lawyers with the Securities Law Firm of SHEPHERD SMITH EDWARDS & KANTAS LLP, www.sseklaw.com, are investigating claims involving Blake B. Richards and LPL Financial, LLC. Blake Richards ("Richards") worked as a broker in the Atlanta area for almost a decade, with his most recent position at LPL Financial starting in 2009. In May 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filed an action against Richards in Federal Court. This suit alleged that Richards had defrauded and stolen millions of dollars from his clients, many of which were elderly.

The SEC claimed that Richards would convince his clients to invest in various securities, including variable annuities, fixed-income securities, or equities. In order to make these investments, Richards apparently directed the clients to make checks out to companies which Richards controlled. Instead of actually using the client funds to make the promised investment, Richards allegedly took the money and spent it for personal expenses.

Ultimately, the SEC required Richards to pay roughly $2 million in penalties and disgorgement to these clients. Whether these clients will ultimately receive the funds they are owed is yet to be seen. Richards may not comply with this requirement and/or he may not have the assets necessary to pay it all back.

Often, when a broker begins engaging in outright theft, as Richards has been charged with, there have been a number of other mistreated clients. Among other issues, those clients may have been sold inappropriate investments which paid higher commissions or they may have been directed to make inappropriate amounts of trades to generate additional fees. As such, people who currently or in the past have held brokerage accounts with Blake Richards should carefully review their accounts to ensure that there were not problems. Contact the law firm of Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas LLP for an evaluation of your account to determine if you might have a claim to attempt to recover some or all of your losses. All communications will be kept strictly confidential, and you will not be billed in any way for a consultation.

Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP has a team of attorneys, consultants and staff with more than 100 years of combined experience in the securities industry and in securities law. For more than two decades, our firm has represented thousands of investors nationwide to recover losses. We have represented clients in Federal and state courts and in arbitration through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the New York Stock Exchange Inc. (NYSE), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and in private arbitration actions.

Contact Info: 866-377-2529

Kirk Smith [email protected]

Thomas Ruiz [email protected]

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SOURCE Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP