My Best Mistake!...or EF Hutton Spoke and I did not listen

#Best Mistake...My best mistake!

All Rights Rights Reserved Apr 12, 2015

It was 1986 and five years into working with an EF Hutton office as a financial adviser located in the Huntington, NY office. By this time I had built a substantive book of business that included CEOs of publicly traded companies, partners in family-owned and owner-managed businesses, and a group of emerging professional baseball players.?

I had resigned myself to attending every bit of training that EF Hutton had offered during my stay there. I had turned down a large upfront cash incentive that another leading wire house had offered in lieu of the education benefit. With no help from EF Hutton and a very clear renege on prospecting agreements, I diligently built a fine reputation in spite of what became frequent felonious behavior on their part in the office.

One day, the manager hired a new assistant from an EF Hutton office from another location on Long Island. The assistant was a hard-driven sales type who was basically devoid of any morals or ethics. He established a policy that there would be required work nights. We were tasked to sell some inferior initial public offerings that offered a very high commission.?

Under threat of being fired, I showed up at my desk but refused to do the sale. I was verbally threatened. I still refused. Later I was physically threatened by four manager cronies. I still refused. It was then that after speaking with my dad, a few very trusted CEO and close client mentors reminded me that my reputation is all that I have in this life. With that said, I made plans to open my own firm. During that time, the CEO of EF Hutton had my phone tapped and further threats ensued. My clients assured me that I was doing the best thing. I find it funny how FINRA now has rules that a rep. can't even speak to his/her clients about considering a career transfer in advance of a move.

I basically threatened them back. The CEO had authorized a large beneficial foundation to use our office and many other EF Hutton office phones during the evenings to raise donations. I locked down my client books. After a series of these fundraising events, I noticed that someone had been viewing my books. I reported this to the manager. This further enraged the CEO. I said that if they do not stop harassing me I was going to visit and report all issues to the FBI. By this time I had documented many violations that were not just financial and regulatory, but felonies as well.?

I was threatened by the manager and assistant that I would have no future in the business. Having come from a tough section of Long Island, my response was not diplomatic. By this time in mid-1986, it was abundantly clear that EF Hutton was on the ropes. It was also clear that it was time to open my own firm.

I relocated to another state and partnered with a lawyer agent with whom I had worked. My best clients were all very supportive and transferred their business as well. I opened my first multi-family office. My production and vision reached great success.

I remember the fear that my wife and I felt, we had a one-year-old child and the thought of selling our home and opening a firm in another state was beyond comprehension. One of the manager cohorts also stated that naming my son JOEY meant that he would never be successful because it was very ethnic. This person, by the way, was responsible for some of the felonies. He later became a manager of a Paine Webber office in another state. The original manager became President of a division of Paine Webber.

We went ahead with it anyway. The business was very successful. I now own another multi-family office located in Orlando. PS My son Joey is a successful lawyer.