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TD Waterhouse Securities, Inc. Ordered to Pay $79,000 to Florida Retirees
Thursday January 19, 10:25 am ET


SARASOTA, Fla., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was issued today by James D. Keeney, P.A.:
A retired Port Charlotte, Florida couple will recover $79,000 from securities brokerage firm TD Waterhouse Securities, Inc. because the firm violated NYSE and NASD rules when it threatened to put their son in jail unless the disabled retirees would agree to pay their son's alleged debt to the online brokerage firm.



A three-member NASD arbitration panel made the unanimous award after a hearing in December. During the hearing, Mr. and Mrs. Jesus Montero testified that TD Waterhouse representatives had threatened to put their son Raymond in jail unless they would agree to transfer securities from their own TD Waterhouse Securities account into Raymond's account in order to cover losses the company claimed their son had incurred. The couple said that TD Waterhouse refused to give them any concrete information about their son's account but insisted he "would go to jail" if they didn't make a frantic 50- mile drive to Sarasota to bring their notarized authorization into the TD Waterhouse Sarasota branch before the end of the business day.

The couple's attorney, James D. Keeney of Sarasota, said, "TD Waterhouse wrongfully used its confidential information about Mr. and Mrs. Montero's securities account as an easy but illegal way to collect a debt from their son."

"The company had no business pressuring these disabled parents over an adult child's alleged debt," Keeney observed. He said the parents had no legal or moral obligation to cover their son's debt. "TD Waterhouse used outrageous collection tactics even though these tactics plainly violated the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act as well as NASD and NYSE rules," the attorney charged.

"Mr. Montero told TD Waterhouse they could not afford to hand over their retirement savings," Mr. Keeney explained, "but Mrs. Montero broke into tears and agreed to do it when the TD Waterhouse representative remarked, 'You know what happens to young men in jail.'"

Mr. Montero owned a carpet installation business in New York before he became disabled. Mrs. Montero later retired on disability from the Postal Service in Port Charlotte due to her own serious health problems.

The Monteros' attorney said his clients are scheduled to receive the $79,000 award payment from TD Waterhouse on or before January 24, 2006.


Press Release from

James D. Keeney, P.A.
100 Wallace Ave, Suite 210
Sarasota, FL 34237
941-309-0050




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Source: James D. Keeney, P.A.