Finra bars ex-Wells Fargo broker firm accused of theft

“We’ve done scores of theft cases over the years and it’s a cancer," said one attorney.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. on Friday barred a former Wells Fargo Advisor broker who left the firm in 2018 but was recently accused of theft by his former employer.

The broker, Andrew Egber, worked at Wells Fargo Advisors until 2018, when he and two other advisors jumped to Steward Partners Investment Solutions, a financial advisor aggregator, in Rockville, Md. where they managed $230 million in clients assets, according to an online report.

He could not be reached Monday morning at the Egber-Lopez Investment Group, where the advisor formerly worked, and no new phone number was available.

Egber was barred from the securities industry not for any theft allegations but instead over procedural matters; he refused to produce information and documents requested pursuant to industry rules, according to the Finra settlement, a violation that results in financial advisors being barred from the securities business.

Egber accepted Finra’s findings without admitting or denying them, according to the Finra order.

Also in the Finra settlement, the regulator noted that Wells Fargo in March had started an internal review related to the advisor; the firm was “reviewing allegations of possible theft of client funds” by Egber.

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo Advisors did not return a call Monday morning to comment.

A spokesperson for Steward Partners also did not return a call to comment.

“The fact that a financial advisor doesn’t show up at a Finra hearing may be perceived as a de facto admission of guilt, and perhaps he could be using the money of a Finra arbitration lawyer on other counsel,” said Andrew Stoltmann, a plaintiff’s attorney. “You can have a good team of financial advisors, but one bad apple can ruin it for the everyone. And the other team members may be open to liability for any potential theft.”

“We’ve done scores of theft cases over the years and it’s a cancer,” said Adam Gana, also a plaintiff’s attorney. “If one person on a team is accused of such serious actions, always check out the others.”

According to his BrokerCheck report, Egber has one pending customer dispute filed against him in February, a denied customer dispute form 2001, and three financial matters from 2016 that are closed.

In the recent client issue, the allegation against Egber is clients’ complaints “that they made an outside investment through the financial advisor and would like to be made whole on funds that were not returned.” That client issue dates back to May 2017, before Egber moved to Steward Partners.