NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On July 30, 2021, The Ciric Law Firm, PLLC filed a $9.7 million claim with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) on behalf of Julie O’Rourke, widow of 9/11 victim Tom O’Rourke, against UBS, Morgan Stanley and financial advisor Kathleen Entwistle seeking to recover investment losses caused by the defendants’ fraudulent actions, negligence, recklessness, breaches of their fiduciary obligations, as well as systematic failures to supervise Ms. Entwistle while under their employ.
Mrs. O’Rourke’s husband, Tom O’Rourke, miraculously escaped the 84th floor of Tower 2 in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 despite losing 61 colleagues at Euro Brokers where he worked who perished in the collapse of the towers. Because he inhaled a significant amount of carcinogenic dust and debris during his escape, he died of cancer on July 13, 2004, leaving Mrs. O’Rourke to raise their three young children on her own.
According to the allegations complained in the FINRA complaint, from 2012 to 2020 Ms. Entwistle who controlled all of Mrs. O’Rourke’s assets and investments left by her late husband, failed to properly invest them over an eight-year period while the overall equity markets were enjoying substantial gains thus breaching her fiduciary duties. Furthermore, Ms. Entwistle deliberately misrepresented Mrs. O’Rourke’s assets performance and size during yearly reviews to hide her assets’ terrible performance. Finally, during this whole period, UBS and Morgan Stanley which employed Ms. Entwistle failed to properly supervise Ms. Entwistle and her conduct, while it knew of concerns raised by other clients.
Ranked as #26 in Forbes’ Best-in-New Jersey 2020 list of top advisors, Ms. Entwistle managed over $400 million of client assets when she transferred to Morgan Stanley in May, 2020 and received a substantial signing bonus based on the size of her portfolio.
Upon discovering the extent of her investment losses for the first time when Ms. Entwistle transferred Mrs. O’Rourke’s accounts to her new employer Morgan Stanley, Mrs. O’Rourke promptly fired Ms. Entwistle and hired a new investment team in the summer of 2020.
“Left with only a fraction of the funds I had originally entrusted to the supervision of Ms. Entwistle back in 2012, I feel that these defendants not only betrayed me, but they also betrayed my late husband’s memory. Tommy’s main focus as he was losing his battle against his illness was to make sure the children and I would not have to worry about our financial future. Because of these defendants’ recklessness I live in a constant state of anxiety. I have no choice but to make every attempt to be made whole again,” said Mrs. O’Rourke.
A copy of the FINRA complaint can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aXyNX5ZqroggMbVBREmtGmVyCPmVctOh3aUJ8nockcI/edit?usp=sharing
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