When my husband died (drowned) in 1999, I was given the pay-out from his insurance policy. I invested about $700,000 with Merrill Lynch, so that I could have the money safely grow and provide an income. Not long after my husband died, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and underwent a year of unusually strong chemo therapy. Much of the time I spent in the hospital having the infusions, because I had to be specially prepared for the chemo. My broker knew what my circumstances were, and also knew I was not a "savvy" investor, so I relied upon the broker to place me in safe securities. I had been given something like a 50% chance of survival, and I knew I would probably never work again. Well, I noticed that my account was rapidly falling and that I was losing a lot of money. Even though I was spending more than I usually did because I had to pay for help, etc, that didn't account for all of the account depletion. When I made comments about my concerns regarding the account, I was often ignored by my broker and passed off to her assistant (whom I had trouble understanding). I left message after message for the broker, but she rarely called back and when she did, she acted like I was a bad child and lectured me. When I made a comment about being interested in bio-tech stocks, the next thing I knew she had purchased a block of bio-tech stocks for $30,000, and hadn't even advised me of which she was going to buy. They eventually "tanked!" When I mentioned to her that my money was rapidly disappearing, she said, "well I guess you will just have to have a yardsale!" When I started making complaints about my account to the management, I was really given the "cold shoulder" by my broker and her assistant! I took my portfolio to another financial company to see if I could switch to that company, but was told by the owner that all my securities were mostly in Merrill Lynch funds (something I had specifically told my broker I did NOT want!), so I could not transfer my account away from Merrill Lynch. Eventually, in the Friday before Memorial weekend, my account with ML was frozen! I was told that I had not followed their "plan" for me and that nothing presented to them for money would be honored! I had to give back my ML credit card & my checks. I virtually had no money! I had to run out after the very long weekend (mentally suffering) and get a loan so I could pay bills and live. During the loan process my credit dropped because the loan took a long time to complete and bills went past due. The Vice President, Larry Smith, said on the phone that he would unfreeze my account and release my money to me if I signed a "hold harmless" form. I said, "that sounds like extortion!" He said, "Let's just call it blackmail!" I never signed. I had to hire an advocate to go in and negotiate a release of my funds, which eventually they did, but not until they had lost another $80,000 from my account while it was supposed to be frozen! I was also told that I had a margin account which I knew nothing about, and that I owed that account $120,000! They sold many of my stocks when they were at an "all time low" to pay back an account that made no sense for me to have! They later lied and said I had no margin account, but I later found a letter they had sent to me saying that I had to pay back $120,000 for the margin account! I was told by an expert that I hired that he estimated my losses with Merrill Lynch to be at $705,000! That is quite a loss! Now, I have an attorney who has taken the case on contingency basis and will get 40% of any settlement I receive. Now ML attorneys are asking me to produce reams of documents dating back to 1996, three years before I had an account with them! They also expect me to have phone records from that far back, and any notes that I wrote as their client. They also want a list of medication I take and if I have seen a psychiatrist. I also have to provide a resume of my schooling, IRS records from 1996 to present, etc, etc, all in 2 weeks! That does NOT sound at all reasonable to me! Those people are merciless, and crooks! I am asking my attorney to request the same documents from Merrill Lynch, my broker, her assistant and anyone else involved with my account! I think that is only FAIR! It is about time SOMETHING is fair! Another thing, when Merrill Lynch sold my stocks to pay their margin account, etc, they reported the sale to the IRS, which made it look like I made money off of the sales, when I made NOTHING! Now, with interest and penalties, the IRS says I owe $375,000!!! I have to prove that I did NOT get a dime of the money, but naturally the burden of proof rests with me, not Merrill Lynch who actually got the money! I can't afford an accountant, or a tax attorney, so I am trying my best to fight the IRS myself, which isn't easy! I cry every day, I fight every day to get help, I work everyday to try and resolve this, it is all consuming with me! The IRS have a new policy of acting nice, but in the end, they treat you like dirt, and a like a criminal! Big corporations get away with not paying taxes for years, yet when the "little guy" has a legitimate wrong done to him, or her, they are reamed out and treated so horribly, they just want to die! I have to go to binding arbitration, and might not get anything, and I will be left penniless. It is a cruel world! Cheryl Petrovich - [email protected]
Cheryl
Sunnyvale, California
U.S.A.
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