Barsion v. A.G. Edwards & Son Press Release

RE: TAMPA BAY AREA NASD ARBITRATION PANEL AWARDS OVER $300,000.00 IN DAMAGES TO FORMER RESTAURANTEUR, ALBERT BARSION

Albert Barsion, who owned and operated the Café de Paris in Tampa, and then later the Ritz in downtown Clearwater, was awarded over $300,000.00 in damages as a result of a claim filed before the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. The claim related to the large and overly concentrated positions in Able Telecom Holdings Corporation and American International Foods, which are highly speculative penny stocks.

In 1996, Mr. Barsion brought his money to be invested to Paul Vogel, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Football Player, at A.G. Edward and Sons’ Clearwater Office after seeing an advertisement for favorable CD rates. At that time, Mr. Barsion indicated he was a conservative investor whose product preferences were certificates of deposit, and high grade corporate bonds. Mr. Barsion also indicated that his experience in the stock market was very limited. Within a short time Mr. Barsion was following Vogel’s advice which included very aggressive strategies consisting of individual stock trading, margin trading, and options. It was two extremely risky penny stocks, American International Foods and Able Telecom that caused the lion’s share of Mr. Barsion’s losses. These two stocks were not followed by A.G. Edwards’ analysts; rather, these were the stock picks of the local Clearwater office of A.G. Edwards. Mr. Barsion’s attorney, Jeffrey P. Coleman of the Coleman Law Firm in Clearwater, asserted damages in excess of $450,000.00.

During the hearing, which lasted seven days, a host of individuals, including his local real estate attorney, his accountant, his neighbor and other investment professionals, testified that during the time Mr. Barsion maintained his account with A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., he was a kind and trusting person who could be easily led by the professionals he employed to assist him. His personal physician testified that Mr. Barsion’s diminished capacity would clearly be evident at the time his account was active.

According to the documents produced by A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., Mr. Barsion, whose prior investment experience was 25 years in CD’s and one year in mutual funds, at 81 years old, decided to embark into the aggressive trading strategy that resulted in his losses. None of the documents produced contained the client’s signature.

“People need to be educated on the importance of their account-opening documents.” Mr. Coleman remarked. “In some firms, update forms are not required to be signed by the customer and can be updated by the registered representative at any time. It is prudent to review these documents with your broker on a regular basis to make sure that you and your broker have the same goals and objective for your account,” said Coleman.

The Arbitration Panel agreed with Attorney Coleman and not only awarded Mr. Barsion $287,000.00 in damages, reimbursement costs in the amount of $16,000.00 and the right to seek attorney fees’ in Circuit Court, as required by Florida Statute.

---