Former broker and investment advisor Michael Edward Fitz-Gerald (aka Michael Edward Fitzgerald, CRD #209062) was last registered with Morgan Stanley (CRD #149777) of San Francisco, CA. Previous employers include Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated (CRD #8209) and UBS Financial Services Inc. (CRD #8174), both of San Francisco. He began working in the industry in 1969.
The previous dispute, filed on 2/14/2017, requested damages of $2,348,175.00, and settled for $185,000. The client alleged that his portfolio was insufficiently diversified from 2012 to 2016. A year before, in 2016, another dispute was filed, with the same allegation of insufficient diversification in the account from 2010 through 2015. The damages were unspecified, and case was settled for $50,000.
Two customer disputes were filed in 1996, both involving breach of fiduciary duty and other allegations. The first involved purchases of Belmac and Flotek Industries, from 12/88. Although the customer requested damages in the amount of $250,000, the case was settled for $80,000 (with Fitz-Gerald contributing $10,000) to avoid litigation.
The second dispute of 1996 alleged “unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty and misrepresentation of common stock. Failure to supervise.” The customer requested damages of $530,000, and the case was settled for $227,500.
Fitz-Gerald’s only previous disclosure was a case filed in 1987, while he worked for Birr-Wilson, Inc. (CRD #12997), which stopped doing business on December 9, 1988. The clients alleged that Fitz-Gerald did not warn them about the dangers of not diversifying their portfolio. Due to his lack of knowledge of the firm’s policies, he didn’t advise the clients about the risks of trading on margins, nor the instability of Onyx stock. The clients also alleged that Fitz-Gerald and Birr-Wilson not only failed to assist the clients in mitigating their losses, they actively worked to prevent the clients from recovering these losses. The clients were awarded $37,250.00, with Fitz-Gerald paying half of the damages.
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