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FLORIDA RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Suit claims Raymond James overcharged processing fees

FORT LAUDERDALE – A New York man and a Louisiana man are suing two Raymond James Financial subsidiaries over claims they overcharged for a certain fee.

Caleb Wistar and Ernest Mayeaux, individually and for all others similarly situated, filed a class-action lawsuit Feb. 11 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Fort Lauderdale Division against Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, alleging breach of contract and negligence.

The suit states that Raymond James offered its customers a Passport Investment Account Program, which provided that customers would not be charged any commissions on individual trades, but instead would be charged a single advisory fee based on the total value of the qualifying assets in the account.

Customers who opened a Passport Account were allegedly required to pay a processing fee meant to "defray the expenses incurred in facilitating the execution and clearing of Client's portfolio transactions," the suit states.

The suit states, however, that the "expenses incurred in facilitating the execution and clearing" of a customer's transactions were significantly lower than the processing fees Raymond James charged.

The suit claims the cost of executing and clearing trades was approximately $5, though sometimes a customer was charged a $30 processing fee.

The plaintiffs and others in the class seek damages, interests, attorney fees and other costs. They are represented by attorneys Eric M. Sodhi, Lyle E. Shapiro, and Joshua L. Spoont of Richman Greer in Miami; attorneys Sara E. Hanley and Randall C. Place of Place and Hanley in Naples, Florida; and attorney Darren C. Blum of Blum Law Group in Fort Lauderdale.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division Case number 16-cv-60284-BB

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