An ex-LPL Financial broker in El Paso, Texas, who was fired by LPL last year and passed away months later, is at the center of at least nine pending investor lawsuits against his old firm involving outside business activities and sales.
Over the summer, one client alleged that the advisor, Michael C. Graham, made misrepresentations on a loan related to a real estate deal.
That client is alleging damages of $25,000, according to Graham’s profile on BrokerCheck. In the eight other similar investor complaints, clients are alleging damages of almost $840,000.
According to his BrokerCheck profile, Graham was registered with LPL Financial from 2019 to June 2025 when he was discharged, or fired.
Graham “failed to disclose and receive prior approval for participation in a prohibited outside business activity,” and “participated in and directed clients to private investments,” according to BrokerCheck.
Graham passed away in November, according to an online obituary. He was 53.
An LPL Financial spokesperson declined to comment.
In three settled disputes with Graham’s customers, LPL Financial has paid $455,000, according to the advisor’s BrokerCheck profile.
Investor complaints and lawsuits don’t go away even after the death of a financial advisor allegedly involved, noted one senior industry executive.
“There are several parties that have regulatory responsibilities,” said Sander Ressler, managing director of Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services. “One is the advisor and one is the firm with the duty to supervise.”
“The activity in question in an investor’s complaint takes place at the time of the order or sale of the security,” Ressler said. “So there’s still a discussion on what were the sales practice documented by the advisor and how was the advisor supervised in that transaction. That does not go away with the death of the advisor.”
Like many large broker-dealers and registered investment advisors, LPL will have problems with financial advisors who break industry sales rules and potentially harm clients.
For example, state regulators in Arizona over the winter hit a former LPL broker under scrutiny for sales of crypto assets to clients with an order to pay defrauded investors $1.4 million in restitution as well as $75,000 in penalties related to the fraud.
The Arizona crypto fraud case had been simmering for some months.
The Securities Division of Arizona in 2025 issued a cease and desist order against the former LPL broker, Lisa Boisselle, and her firm, Wealthwise,, claiming violations of a variety of state securities laws linked to sales of two cryptocurrency funds.
Boisselle was registered with LPL Financial in Scottsdale, Ariz., from 2018 to 2022, according to her BrokerCheck profile. Wealthwise is no longer registered as an RIA.
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