John Cutshall, Financial Advisor Barred by FINRA from Securities Industry | Goodman & Nekvasil P.A., May Recover Investor Losses
John Cutshall was a previously licensed broker/financial advisor with Lombard Securities Incorporated and Morgan Stanley in Maryland. FINRA reports that John Cutshall was barred from the securities and investment banking industry.
ACCORDING TO FINRA: John Cutshall was named a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging that John Cutshall abused John Cutshall’s position as trustee for trusts that he administered on behalf of separate customers, a married deceased couple and an elderly then 91-year widow, by converting and improperly using funds from these trusts. The complaint alleges that in total, John Cutshall took approximately $400,000 from the account of the deceased customers’ residuary trust by using his position as trustee to write checks drawn against the trust’s account at his member firm and depositing the checks into his personal bank account. John Cutshall did not disclose to his firm that he took these funds. After having already taken $400,000 from the trust, Cutshall claimed for the first time that there was a handwritten note purportedly signed by the deceased customer, the husband. Rather than consult with the lawyer who drafted and witnessed the original deceased couple’s trusts, John Cutshall hired a different law firm to, among other things, give him an opinion regarding the enforceability of the handwritten note. The law firm’s legal opinion acknowledged the suspicious nature of the signature on the document and acknowledged that because the deceased wife did not sign the handwritten note or execute a similar document, Cutshall had no claim to any assets deriving from her trust.
According to FINRA: The law firm advised Cutshall to return the money that he took from the account of the residuary trust so that they could perform an accounting of trust assets based on the value of the husband’s trust and the wife’s trust as of a particular date. Cutshall repaid the residuary trust only $229,100 and he kept the difference of $170,900. Based on the presumption that the husband signed the handwritten note and that it was enforceable, the law firm told Cutshall that he was entitled to receive approximately $292,100 from the account of the residuary trust based on their accounting of the funds attributable to the husband trust in that account.
According to FINRA: In total, Cutshall received approximately $463,000 from the account of the residuary trust. The complaint also alleges that Cutshall administered a trust for the benefit of the elderly customer and improperly withdrew and used $2,000 in customer funds for his own benefit. The complaint further alleges that Cutshall never disclosed to his firms that he had been named as a beneficiary of the husband’s trust, including during the time that he withdrew funds from the residuary trust despite completing forms that called for the disclosure of such information. Cutshall further failed to disclose that he served in any other fiduciary capacity for the deceased customers or that he would be compensated for any such role. Cutshall failed to provide his firms a copy of the handwritten note naming him as a beneficiary of the trust. Cutshall actively thwarted his firms’ ability to supervise his conduct. In addition, the complaint alleges that Cutshall made a misrepresentation in his annual compliance questionnaire issued by his firm.
If you lost any money on investments with John Cutshall, you may be able to recover your losses. If you lost money on investments with John Cutshall and believe the investments may have been unsuitable or otherwise improper for you, we would like to discuss the possibility of your retaining our firm to represent you in an arbitration action concerning John Cutshall’ conduct. There is no charge for an evaluation of your case. Further, we handle our cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless we recover money for you, we charge no attorney’s fee. Unless you recover any money, you pay us nothing, not even the costs and expenses which the firm will advance on your behalf.
Kalju Nekvasil, Esq., formerly regional counsel with the NASD, now known as FINRA, has practiced in this area of the law for more than 35 years. Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A. has recovered more than $180 million on behalf of victimized investors. If you lost money on investments with John Cutshall and would like your case evaluated by a securities attorney (again, there is no charge for an evaluation and all cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis), please contact us.
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