J.P. Morgan Securities faced a significant setback as an arbitration panel denied its $39.7 million damages claim against former financial advisor Edward Turley. Turley, who was implicated in over a dozen customer complaints resulting in multimillion-dollar settlements, emerged with an award in his favor instead.
The brokerage arm of JPMorgan Chase alleged that Turley unjustly enriched himself by repeatedly breaching company policies and lying to the firm over several years. These accusations were central to the firm’s pursuit of monetary damages, according to the Dec. 27 arbitration ruling issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
However, the panel rejected J.P. Morgan’s claims and directed the firm to pay Turley $520,000 to cover his legal fees and related expenses. Additionally, the arbitrators required the company to bear the $12,650 cost of the arbitration proceedings, which spanned 11 hearing sessions. As is customary in FINRA arbitration cases, the ruling did not include an explanation for the panel’s decision.
J.P. Morgan declined to comment on the ruling, while Turley’s legal representative, Andrew Harvin of the Norton Law Firm, did not respond to inquiries about the case.
Turley’s tenure with J.P. Morgan began in 2009 and ended with his termination in 2021. BrokerCheck, FINRA’s publicly accessible database, indicates that the firm dismissed Turley due to a “loss of confidence concerning adherence to firm policies and brokerage order handling requirements.”
Despite a relatively clean record for much of his career, Turley’s troubles escalated in 2020. Before that year, he had only one recorded client complaint on BrokerCheck. Since then, 13 complaints have been lodged, including one that led to a $4 million arbitration award. The remaining complaints were settled for a cumulative total of $51 million. The grievances primarily involved allegations of exercising discretion without authorization, unsuitable trading practices, and improper investment recommendations.
In 2022, FINRA barred Turley from the securities industry after he failed to cooperate with its requests for information. Turley consented to the bar without admitting or denying the allegations against him.
J.P. Morgan initiated its claim against Turley in FINRA arbitration in March 2023. The arbitration decision, which has drawn attention from the wealth management and regulatory sectors, underscores the complexities of holding financial advisors accountable for alleged misconduct within the framework of arbitration and regulatory proceedings.
