Securities Lawyers Blog
Our firm is investigating claims made by various regulators and brokerage firms including the State of Washington against broker Douglas Donnelly (Donnelly), formerly associated with brokerage firms Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC (Wells Fargo), Northwest Asset Management (Northwest), and Dinosaur Financial Group, L.L.C. (Dinosaur Financial). The allegations revolve around the offering of investments outside of the brokerage firm –a practice known in the industry as “selling away”. Often times brokers who engage in this practice use outside businesses in order to market their securities. According to The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) brokercheck records Donnelly has been subject to two customer complaints, two regulatory events, and two terminations for cause. Donnelly has also disclosed outside business activities including Passing Time Winery and Concert Wealth Management.
One of the regulatory events involves claims by the State of Washington alleging that in June 2010, Donnelly began to invest $200,000 in a private placement. Thereafter, Washington alleged that Donnelly sent information about the private placement to potential investors from his Wells Fargo email account. It was also alleged that Donnelly held meetings at his Wells Fargo office to introduce his Wells Fargo clients to the company’s personnel and provided disclosure information about the company to potential investors. Washington found that Donnelly introduced approximately 40 individuals to the private placement who invested approximately $4,000,000. Washington found that Wells Fargo investigated and terminated Donnelly for introducing firm clients to the private placement without written approval.
Donnelly entered the securities industry in 1988. From July 2003 until March 2012 Donnelly was associated with Wells Fargo. Finally, from April 2013 until May 2016 Donnelly was associated with Dinosaur Financial out of the firm’s Seattle, Washington office location.