Oppenheimer recruiting brokers, advisers from Stanford Group

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. is interested in picking up some of the brokers and advisers from the distressed Stanford Group Co., the Houston-based broker-dealer arm of the disgraced companies controlled by financial R. Allen Stanford. Oppenheimer, which is based in Toronto but said Wednesday it will ask shareholder approval to move to the United States, has made offers to between 75 and 100 Stanford reps, said Rick Peterson, a recruiter in Houston. The offers are bare-bones, Mr. Peterson said. “The brokers are getting a desk, a phone and the opportunity to make a living,” he said. It is not clear how many brokers have accepted the offer, Mr. Peterson said, although he stressed that many have already moved. Those include brokers in New York, Dallas, Houston and possibly Miami, he said. The entire office of Stanford brokers in Charlotte, N.C., was also picked up, he said. Oppenheimer Holdings has no affiliation with OppenheimerFunds Distributors Inc., the New York-based mutual fund powerhouse. Brian Maddox, a spokesman for Oppenheimer Holdings, said that the firm is “not in a position to comment about” recruiting the Stanford brokers. Last month, the SEC charged the Stanford companies, including the broker-dealer, with committing an $8 billion fraud based on selling certificates of deposits to investors by promising improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates. Stanford Group had about 250 brokers before the Securities and Exchange Commission leveled its fraud charges against the firm. At the time, a receiver froze the its assets, including those of the brokers’ clients, but that has gradually begun to thaw, observers said. Oppenheimer Holdings had 1,333 reps and advisers in 86 offices in the United States and two in Latin America at the end of last year. The firm reported $48.1 billion in client assets.