Wells Fargo has to pay nearly $3.4 million to the estate of an elderly investor who accused the firm and one of its advisors of failing to prevent the client from being taken advantage of by her nieces.
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel hit Wells Fargo Clearing Services — the official name of Wells Fargo Advisors — and its advisor Stephen L. Smith with a roughly $3.37 million award over alleged breaches of fiduciary duty and contract, negligence and other violations. The complaints against Wells were brought by the estate of Genell Mathis, a wealthy client who built much of her fortune through early investments in the insurance giant Aflac. Mathis, a lifetime resident of Columbus, Georgia, died in 2020.
Mathis's lawyers, Tyler Pritchard and Rhett Owens of the Bodewell Injury Group law firm in Birmingham, Alabama, said the claims arose after Mathis was convinced by her two nieces that she could lower her estate taxes by transferring to them and other relatives more than 70,000 of her Aflac shares. After learning the transfers would not have the promised benefits, Mathis sought to reclaim the stock only to see her requests refused.
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