Practice Area · Fiduciary Standard Violations

Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

Investment advisers registered with the SEC or state regulators owe you the highest legal duty in finance. When they act in their own interest instead of yours, they may owe you full recovery of your losses.

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What Went Wrong

You Were Owed a Legal Duty. It Was Violated.

If the person managing your investments was a registered investment adviser (RIA) or an investment adviser representative (IAR) working for one, they were bound by a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the highest standard of care in the financial services industry.

That duty is not a marketing phrase. It is a legal obligation, backed by SEC enforcement authority and reinforced by decades of case law, that requires your adviser to place your interests above their own in every recommendation, every transaction, and every piece of advice they provide.

When advisers violate that duty, by steering you into funds that pay them hidden fees, by holding your assets in underperforming strategies that produce trailing commissions, by trading your account to generate wrap fee justification, or by managing conflicts of interest in ways that benefit themselves, they are liable for the losses they caused. The question is whether you have someone capable of proving it.

Know the Difference

Broker-Dealer Standard vs. Investment Adviser Fiduciary Duty

Broker-Dealer: Reg BI (Best Interest)

Must act in customer's best interest at point of recommendation
Standard applies transaction by transaction
Conflicts of interest must be disclosed and mitigated
Suitability of specific product recommendations required
Disputes generally resolved in FINRA arbitration
Compensation structures subject to Form CRS disclosure

Investment Adviser: Fiduciary Duty

Must act in client's best interest at all times, continuously
Standard applies to all advice and ongoing account management
Conflicts of interest must be disclosed AND managed or eliminated
Full portfolio management must serve the client's interests
Disputes may proceed in court, AAA, or JAMS arbitration
All material conflicts must be disclosed on Form ADV

Many financial professionals serve in both capacities. Determining which standard applied to each piece of advice you received is a critical step in evaluating your claim.

Common Violations

How Investment Advisers Breach Their Fiduciary Duty

Undisclosed revenue sharing and 12b-1 fees: Recommending mutual funds that pay the adviser's firm hidden distribution fees while better-performing, lower-cost share classes were available in the same fund family.
Proprietary product bias: Steering clients into the adviser's firm's own investment products without disclosing that the recommendation is influenced by internal compensation incentives.
Wrap fee account churning: Generating excessive trading in managed accounts primarily to justify the advisory fee structure rather than to advance the client's investment goals.
Failure to disclose conflicts: Omitting from Form ADV or client communications the existence of material conflicts of interest, including compensation arrangements, outside business activities, or related-party transactions.
Self-dealing transactions: Investing client assets in entities in which the adviser has a personal financial interest without adequate disclosure and client consent.
Performance fabrication: Misrepresenting portfolio performance, risk exposure, or investment strategy to retain client assets and fees.
Unsuitable strategy: Implementing an investment strategy inconsistent with the client's stated objectives, risk tolerance, or time horizon despite holding full discretionary authority.

The Riera Advantage

SEC Enforcement Experience. Fiduciary Liability Experience.

Fiduciary duty claims against investment advisers require a lawyer who understands how the SEC investigates and prosecutes adviser misconduct, not just one who reads about it. Jorge L. Riera spent a decade as Senior Enforcement Counsel at the SEC's Division of Enforcement in Miami, building cases against investment advisers who breached their fiduciary obligations to clients.

Insider Understanding of SEC Adviser Enforcement

Investment adviser enforcement is one of the SEC's top examination and enforcement priorities. Jorge understands the documents the SEC requires advisers to maintain, the conflicts they are required to disclose, and the red flags that trigger examination referrals, giving investor clients a significant advantage in building their case.

FINRA NAMC Appointment

As one of only 7 Public Members of FINRA's National Arbitration and Mediation Committee, appointed by the FINRA Board of Governors, Jorge has unmatched insight into arbitration procedure and panel dynamics that directly benefits clients in contested fiduciary claims.

CPA Credentials in Damages Analysis

Quantifying the losses caused by a fiduciary breach, including fee overcharges, opportunity costs, and undisclosed revenue captured by the adviser, requires forensic financial analysis. Jorge's CPA designation enables faster case evaluation, better expert direction, and stronger cross-examination of the defence's damages expert at hearing.

All fiduciary duty claims are handled on a contingency fee basis. You owe no legal fee unless we recover.

Case costs and expenses are payable from any recovery as provided in the written engagement agreement.

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Common Questions

Fiduciary Duty Claims: Frequently Asked Questions

Check whether your adviser is registered as a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) with the SEC or your state securities regulator. You can search the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database (IAPD) at adviserinfo.sec.gov. If your adviser was registered, they owed you a fiduciary duty. If they operated as a broker-dealer representative only, they were subject to Reg BI. Many professionals hold both registrations.

Claims against investment advisers that are not also FINRA member firms may be brought in state or federal court, or in private arbitration before AAA or JAMS, depending on the advisory agreement. Some larger RIA firms are also FINRA members and have broker-dealer affiliates, in which case FINRA arbitration may be available. A thorough review of your advisory agreement is the first step.

Yes. The fee structure does not define the duty. An adviser charging a 1% AUM fee can still breach their fiduciary duty by implementing an unsuitable investment strategy, generating excessive trades to justify the fee, steering you into proprietary products, or failing to disclose conflicts of interest affecting their recommendations.

The applicable limitations period depends on the legal theory and the forum. Claims brought in FINRA arbitration must generally be filed within six years of the event giving rise to the claim. Federal securities law claims have a two-year discovery period with a five-year outer limit. State law fiduciary duty claims vary by jurisdiction. Early consultation is important because multiple limitation periods may run concurrently.

No Fee Unless We Win

An Adviser Who Put Themselves First Owes You a Recovery

Fiduciary claims require forensic analysis of your advisory agreements, fee disclosures, Form ADV filings, and portfolio records. The sooner you start, the stronger your case. Contact the firm for a confidential, no-cost evaluation.

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