As she was in the midst of grief from the death of her father and husband, a Merrill Lynch customer’s financial advisor took advantage of her, wooed her, and convinced her to hand him gifts totaling millions of dollars, according to a 2024 lawsuit.
Almost two years later, Merrill Lynch and the veteran advisor, Juan Rionda, agreed this spring to settle the dispute for a total of $6 million with the client, Joyce Mcnemar. According to his BrokerCheck profile, Rionda agreed to pay $2.75 million of the settlement, which was finalized in May but only recently become public on FINRA’s system of broker work histories.
According to the lawsuit, Mcnemar was the primary caregiver for her father and husband. Her father died in August 2021 and her husband passed away seven months later. She met Rionda around that time, according to the complaint, when she was in a “fragile emotional and mental state.”
“In addition to simply having meetings with her as a client, Juan began taking Joyce to social clubs, and a myriad of other social gatherings,” according to Mcnemar’s complaint against Rionda, which was filed in October 2024 in Palm Beach County, Fla., Circuit Court. “Juan became her sole social contact, told her that he loved her, and obtained a position of control over her during this time period that she was vulnerable.”
“Juan then took steps to abuse his position as a fiduciary for Joyce and began having discussion with her about him receiving significant financial payments to him from her assets,” according to the complaint. “To wit, he began discussing and otherwise coercing Joyce into providing him with a financial 'inter vivos' transfer of $4.5 million.”
An “inter vivos” transfer is a legal term that means “between the living.”
Rionda, who began working for Merrill Lynch in 1993, “took advantage of his position of trust and confidence” and caused the transfer of $4.5 million, about half his client’s assets, according to the complaint.
“As soon as he obtained the funds, Juan ceased all material communications with Joyce and has since enjoyed the benefit of her funds to her detriment,” according to the complaint, which charged Rionda with unjust enrichment, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.
Based with Merrill Lynch in Delray Beach, Fla., Rionda is retired, according to his BrokerCheck profile.
He did not admit to wrongdoing in the settlement, but agreed to contribute $2.75 million “to avoid further costs and the uncertainty of arbitration,” according to BrokerCheck.
Rionda could not be reached Thursday to comment. A spokesperson for Merrill Lynch declined to comment. An attorney for McNemar did not return a call to comment.
Rionda is yet another Merrill broker in Florida that has caused headaches for the firm, a leader in wealth management. InvestmentNews last fall reported on three ex-Merrill advisors who engaged in alleged criminal activity.
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