Jefferies Financial Group Terminates Employment of Miami Team for Alleged Misconduct

Posted on January 14th, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Jefferies Financial Group Terminates Employment of Miami Team for Alleged Misconduct

From the desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law

According to Form U-5 filings, Jefferies Financial Group recently terminated a group of Miami-based wealth advisors allegedly after uncovering improper money transfers and attempts to conceal the activity through off-channel communications. The firm dismissed Marcelo Poliak, Rodrigo Soto, Guillermo Guerra, Pablo Gherardi, and four other team members over “impermissible money-wire transfers” and “deleted” communications.

AdvisorHub reports that Nicholas Coubrough also was fired for allegedly seeking improper payments from colleagues in exchange for withholding information about their use of unauthorized communication methods.

The Miami team, which joined Jefferies from Wells Fargo & Co. in 2017, reportedly managed over $1.5 billion in client assets and operated as part of the Sky Blue Investment Group. This unit worked under Jefferies's wealth management platform.

According to AdvisorHub, Jefferies itself paid substantial penalties following regulatory investigations. In 2022, the firm agreed to pay $50 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission and an additional $30 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for lapses in monitoring employee communications.

 

 

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, transition, regulatory, and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next

I want to extend a tremendous thank you for your dedication, professionalism, hard work and patient demeanor through this challenging time. It was enjoyable interacting with everyone on your team, this certainly helped while dealing with the situation and working towards resolution.

Dan M.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

March 12, 2025
GPB Capital Investors May Receive Some Compensation Under Proposed Distribution Plan

GPB Capital Holdings investors have not received returns on their investments since 2018. According to InvestmentNews, after years of litigation, a court-appointed receiver has submitted a plan to return funds to the 17,000 investors who purchased $1.8 billion in GPB limited partnerships.

March 11, 2025
Former CNBC Analyst Pleads Guilty to $2.7 Million Securities Fraud Scheme

James Arthur McDonald Jr., a former financial advisor and frequent CNBC guest analyst, has agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud, admitting to defrauding investors out of at least $2.7 million, as reported by ThinkAdvisor. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

March 10, 2025
Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch Settle SEC Charges Over Cash Sweep Program Policies

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced settlements with Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC, Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network LLC, and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated over allegations that they failed to implement proper policies and procedures for their cash sweep programs.