Anthony Mesquit of Jacksonville Florida a stockbroker currently registered with Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC and Fidelity Personal Workplace Advisors is the subject of a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim in which the customer requested $750,000.00 in damages based upon allegations of unsuitable recommendations by the stockbroker “to name a donor advised fund as the beneficiary of their accounts was inappropriate.” Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Arbitration No. 20-00862 (Apr. 9, 2020).
These are not sales practice related claims, and customers are responsible for completing their new account forms in the proper capacity, includiing the designation of beneficiaries.
This is not the first time that Mesquit has been accused of misconduct relating to investors. FINRA Public Disclosure also confirms that on July 13, 2018, a customer filed an investment related arbitration claim concerning Mesquit’s activities where the customer sought $129,000.00 in damages founded on accusations that the customer’s assets were inappropriately transferred into a managed account where the customer sustained undue tax consequences on mutual fund transactions. FINRA Arbitration No. 19-02624 (Oct. 10, 2019).
Last we heard, investors only pay taxes when they realize profits. A tax liability does not come from the transfer of assets into a managed account, but the sale of securities at a profit and the transfer to any account or to no account at all. Perhaps the investor sought losses from having an undiversified, self-managed account.
Both cases sound highly questionable. Mesquit has been employed by Fidelity Brokerage Services since January 3, 2007.
