A former Wells Fargo financial advisor was arrested after an investigation revealed he allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from two elderly clients.
Jeffrey Palish, of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., is being charged with one count of theft by deception.
The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office was tipped off when it was reported that Palish failed to make payments on a $100,000 loan he received from the clients. He never disclosed information about said loan to Wells Fargo either.
Further investigation indicated that Palish had received somewhere around $600,000 from the clients over a period of four years.
“The funds were obtained through the conversion of the clients’ stock holdings. The stocks were sold and the monies were transferred to a second bank where the monies were remitted to Mr. Palish through checks written by one of the clients,” Dennis Calo, acting Bergen County prosecutor, said in a statement.
What’s more, during the same time period, prosecutors allege Palish initiated around 40 unauthorized wire transfers—to the tune of more than $300,000—from the clients’ bank accounts to make payments toward his personal credit card debt.
“As a result of the investigation, it was determined that Mr. Palish utilized all of the monies for his own personal benefit and has not repaid or returned any monies to the victims,” the prosecutor’s report stated.
The ex-broker was “discharged” from Wells Fargo Oct. 5, 2017, according to FINRA records. The allegations related to his termination read “Registered associate received funds from client.”
Palish’s career in finance began in 1993 with McLaughlin, Piven, Vogel Securities. He was since employed by UBS PaineWebber, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, before joining Wells Fargo in 2010.
His first appearance in court is set for March 7 in Hackensack, N.J.
Jessa Claeys is a writer, editor and graphic designer.
To quote Woodie Guthrie, “some will rob you with a six gun and some with a fountain pen”. Sad but it’s still true