Three customers have sued Charles Schwab Corp. over its payment-for-order-flow practices, charging that the brokerage giant didn't get them the best possible price for their orders.
The three — Jonathan Corrente, Charles Shaw and Leo Williams, represented by the law firm Bathaee Dunne — seek class certification, punitive and treble damages and restitution. They also want the court to order Schwab to disgorge its ill-gotten gains.
The plaintiffs claim that in the wake of Schwab’s acquisition of TD Ameritrade, the company receives more than half the order-flow payments made to brokerage firms. That, the plaintiffs claim, results in reduced competition among retail firms to remit more of the payments they receive in the form of rebates or price improvements to customers.
[More: Creative Planning lawsuit: Creative Planning, Schwab, Fidelity fighting adviser’s collusion charges]
Schwab called the complaints and lawsuit baseless, saying the action is “an obvious attempt to garner media attention.”
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