SEC Charges World Tree Financial, LLC And Wesley Perkins With Securities Fraud

The Wolper Law Firm is currently investigating claims against World Tree Financial, LLC and Wesley Perkins.  World Tree Financial is a Louisiana based brokerage firm founded by Wesley Perkins.  According to publicly available records released by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on World Tree Financial And Wesley Perkins have been charged with securities fraud for, among other things, “operating a cherry-picking scheme that defrauded World Tree clients.”

The SEC complaint alleges that “for more than four years, Perkins reaped substantial profits at his clients’ expense by cherry picking trades.  Perkins allegedly traded securities in World Tree’s omnibus account and delayed allocating the securities to specific client accounts until he had observed the securities’ performance of the course of the day.  He then allocated favorable trades to favored accounts.”

For a copy of the SEC Complaint, click https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2018/comp24278.pdf

Wesley Perkins was formerly associated with Purshe, Kaplan Sterling Investments until 2016, where he was the subject of four customer complaints, alleging “unauthorized trading,” unsuitability and misrepresentations.  All the matters were settled by the brokerage firm.

Financial advisors have a legal and regulatory obligation to recommend only suitable investments that are appropriate for their clients’ needs and objectives. Their employing brokerage firm has a legal and regulatory obligation to supervise the Financial Advisors’ sales practices and dealings with clients.  To the extent any of these duties are breached, the customer may be entitled to a recovery of his or her investment losses.

If you or someone you know was a customer of Wesley Perkins and you experienced investment losses, please contact the Wolper Law Firm at 800.931.8452 or by email at mwolper@wolperlawfirm.com to discuss your specific situation and the legal options available.  The Wolper Law Firm represents investors nationwide in securities litigation and arbitration.

Matt Wolper, the Managing Principal of the Wolper Law Firm, is a trial lawyer who has handled hundreds of securities cases during his career involving a wide range of products, strategies and securities.  Prior to representing investors, he was a partner with a national law firm, where he represented some of the largest banks and brokerage firms in the world in securities matters.