A retiree whose former Pennsylvania advisor siphoned millions from wealthy clients has sued JPMorgan Chase and affiliates, alleging the company allowed the theft of his funds through negligence and reckless indifference.
In a complaint filed previously in a Philadelphia court and removed this month to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Stanley Tulin and wife Riki Tulin of Villanova, Pennsylvania, accuse JPMorgan Chase, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors and related entities of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud and other violations.
The lawsuit and similar cases filed against major financial institutions arise from a fraud perpetrated by former advisor Scott Mason, who pleaded guilty to misappropriating over $17 million from clients.
In June, he was sentenced to eight years and a month in federal prison. Mason spent clients' funds on his lavish lifestyle prosecutors said.
Lawyers for Mason, who was ordered to pay $25 million in restitution, have said most of the funds were spent and that he was expected to repay about $3 million.
“This is not just a case of financial mismanagement — this is a story of betrayal, negligence, and the ruination of a family’s security,” the Tulins’ complaint states. Tulin "spent his life building a career to ensure his family’s well-being (and) entrusted his hard-earned wealth to those he believed would safeguard it,” it says. Instead, the Tulins “became victims of a ruthless fraud — a Ponzi scheme led by Scott Mason … with the full assistance and complicity of J.P. Morgan.”
Stanley Tulin had served as chief financial officer of Equitable Financial and on AXA Group’s executive committee. The Tulins contend that their net worth should have surpassed $30 million, if not for Mason and J.P. Morgan.
The couple alleges Mason, with assistance from J.P. Morgan, made over $19 million in unauthorized transfers from two of their J.P. Morgan accounts to accounts that Mason owned or controlled.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
Other former Mason clients have pending Pennsylvania lawsuits against JP Morgan Chase Bank, PNC Bank, SEI Private Trust and Fidelity Brokerage Services.
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