Broker was barred, then allegedly siphoned cash from senior’s account

A former broker who was barred from the securities industry in 2020 after making more than $100,000 of unauthorized withdrawals from clients’ accounts allegedly continued to siphon a client’s cash for two more years, receiving more than $73,000 from a senior citizen and former client who is 79 years old.

Henry Duval, previously known as Roger Allan Duval, resigned from Pruco Securities in 2019 and a year later was barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

But being barred from selling securities didn’t prevent Duval from then turning to and targeting an elderly client for more cash, according to charges filed against the ex-broker in October by the securities division of the state of Washington Department of Financial Institutions.

“On May 13, 2019, Duval resigned from Pruco Securities,” the securities division stated about the charges. “After his resignation, Duval received a total of more than $73,000 from a senior citizen who was a former client.”

Duval could not be reached Thursday to comment. The State of Washington is seeking a cease and desist order as well as fines against him.

The statement of charges alleges that Duval violated the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of Washington in connection with funds that he received from the senior citizen client. 

“Broker theft is pervasive,” said Adam Gana, a plaintiff’s lawyer. “We see it in elder abuse cases several times each year, and firms just don’t have enough resources dedicated to preventing that kind of theft.”  

“After learning about a bad actor who is barred, the securities industry should have a responsibility to put clients on notice,”  said Scott Silver, also a plaintiff’s attorney. “It’s a dangerous situation. Brokers who get terminated for cause for being a bad actor may become even more aggressive.”

According to Finra, beginning in 2013, Duval convinced three elderly customers to establish and maintain brokerage accounts at a Finra member firm, away from his employer member firms.

From June 2017 through April 2019, Duval used the customers’ login credentials to access these accounts and wrote himself checks totaling approximately $130,000 without their knowledge or authorization. Duval deposited these checks into his personal checking account and then transferred some of these funds into his personal brokerage account.

In May 2019, after he resigned from Pruco, Duval allegedly commenced the series of actions involving the elderly client that have made him the focus of Washington state’s current charges.

First, the client wrote a check for $36,000 to Duval’s business, Retirement Base Camp. A few days later, the Washington state securities division entered a summary order against Duval for securities violations, including dishonest and unethical business practices.

Duval did not disclose the allegations to the client, who not aware that Duval’s securities license had been suspended, according to the charges. After the client’s check was deposited into Duval’s Retirement Base Camp account, Duval transferred much of the funds to a personal bank account.

Between 2019 and 2022, Duval made small payments of a few hundred dollars to the client’s account, totaling around $25,000, according to Washington state’s charges.

The elderly client then received more than $40,000 in proceeds from the liquidation of a Real Estate Investment Trust, and from 2020 to 2022, a total of approximately $37,500 was withdrawn from the client’s bank account through online banking transactions and deposited into Duval’s Retirement Base Camp bank account.

The client then informed the securities division that these withdrawals were made out of her account without her knowledge or authorization, according to the charges.