Andrew C. Cote, LLC
Summary
Main Office
302 West Main St Suite 201
Avon,
CT 06001
860-435-4721
Years of Experience
19
Websites
Geographies
Office Locations
Main Office
302 West Main St Suite 201
Avon, CT 06001
PO Box 1965
Lakeville, CT 06039
100 Mill Plain Rd
Danbury, CT 06811
Investment Fraud, Securities Law, Business Law, Mediation, Arbitration
Andrew C. Coté, LLC is a boutique law firm with it's main office in Avon, CT and satellite office in Lakeville and Danbury, CT. We represent clients in the fields of investment fraud, securities arbitration, mediation and litigation, business formation and reorganization, and Private Placements. Over the past 18 years, we have recovered millions of dollars for our clients throughout the Northeast. Andrew Coté’s experience may be unique. He combines eighteen years as a securities, corporate and business attorney with a further nine years as a Registered Investment Advisor and Senior Executive in a brokerage firm. He has invaluable insider knowledge of the securities industry and its potential for success, coupled with an in-depth awareness of its possible abuses and pitfalls –- experience not offered by most attorneys. He is also a FINRA arbitrator (previously NASD).
Case History
Company 401K Pension Fund
Practice Area: Securities
Description: Long term participants in a 401K pension fund were encouraged by their employers to invest heavily in an unsuitable stock offered by the employers’ Investment Adviser/Insurance Broker. The employers had also significantly invested in the same stock. The stock became worthless and the employers denied any responsibility for their employees’ losses. The Investment Adviser proved to be insolvent.
Outcome: We spread a wide net and brought an action against the employers, two insurance companies, and a securities firm. The pension funds were recovered.
Insurance Broker Defense
Practice Area: Securities
Description: An independent insurance broker sold close to $1.5 million in fraudulent “insured” promissory notes to his customers in purported emerging companies. The broker also invested $100,000 of his own money. The promissory notes proved to be almost worthless and the insurance coverage of their principle non-existent.
Outcome: We minimized damage to the broker who retained his insurance license and his standing in the community; indeed most of his defrauded customers did not pursue the matter in court.
Quadriplegic Loses Much of his Personal Injury Proceeds
Practice Area: Securities
Description: Here was a financially inexperienced young man who gave his broker, at a large reputable firm, over $1 million from his personal injury suit to invest conservatively for the long term. The money was invested too aggressively resulting in substantial losses and a bleak future for our client.
Outcome: We successfully mediated the matter with the brokerage firm.
Brokerage House Faulty Stock Recommendation
Practice Area: Securities
Description: One of the leading brokerage firms recommended a security to its customers based on suspect and incomplete research. The company that issued the stock went bankrupt and the stock became worthless.
Outcome: We successfully represented several of these customers who had suffered substantial losses resulting from this faulty recommendation.
Elderly Clients Victims of Embezzlement by an Investment Advisor
Practice Area: Securities
Description: Millions of dollars were stolen by an Investment Advisor who falsely told his clients that their money was invested in a “fixed account” that guaranteed an 8% return. In fact the money was diverted for his personal use to pay off his gambling debts. He concealed the fraud by manufacturing false statements. Our client used this Investment Advisor for ten years during which time the Investment Advisor worked for three employers.
Outcome: The three employers repaid our client his losses totaling over half a million dollars.
Early Retirement Pension Losses
Practice Area: Securities
Description: It seemed heaven sent to our client when he was offered early retirement. His 401K plan was healthy and all he needed to do was to reinvest it wisely. The tech stock market was going crazy and he invested in it enthusiastically. Within six months the bubble burst and nearly fifty percent of his pension fund was gone. He was forced to go back to work. Several years later a letter from the New York State Attorney’s Office informed him that he had been defrauded by his broker and might be entitled to restitution. There was a catch; time to file a claim had run out and under the statute of limitations his broker’s employers did not have to make the restitution.
Outcome: We contacted the State of Department of Banking, presented our case and with their help full restitution plus interest was made to our client.
Private Placement
Practice Area: Securities
Description: A Private Placement had been incorrectly prepared by another attorney and there were serious legal issues and omissions of material facts.
Outcome: We coordinated the work of two New York specialist law firms with reference to blue sky matters and we redrafted the Private Placement Memo to bring it into compliance.
Securities Industry Dispute
Practice Area: Securities
Description: A registered representative resigned from a broker dealer and was accused of misappropriating company trade secrets, computer-related offenses, violation of Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and breaching his fiduciary duties. The broker-dealer withheld the outstanding earned commissions from the registered representative.
Outcome: The matter was settled satisfactorily for both sides including the division of the client book of the registered representative.
Securities Broker-Dealer Defense
Practice Area: Securities
Description: A regional securities firm had a FINRA complaint filed against it. Our investigation unearthed a rogue broker who had made a number of unsuitable unauthorized trades for several of his customers.
Outcome: An acceptable and satisfactory settlement was made with the broker’s customers and regulatory authorities preventing the necessity for further regulatory action.
Auction Rate Securities (ARS)
Practice Area: Securities
Description: A financially sophisticated, high net worth investor’s money manager invested large amounts of his money in auction rate securities (ARS). When the ARS market became largely frozen in early 2008, a significant amount of our client’s funds became illiquid.
Outcome: After our client retained us, we quickly made a demand on his bank and investment advisor. After several weeks of intense negotiations, we recovered all his funds plus interest.
Micro-Cap Fraud
Practice Area: Securities
Description: A financially sophisticated man in his mid 40’s was enticed through various deceptive practices into investing in several development stage companies, all of which went out of business. Shortly after we filed a claim with FINRA, the small securities investment firm that recommended these stocks became insolvent and went out of business.
Outcome: Again, we cast a wide net and brought action against the securities firm’s former owner and several of its key executives. After a hearing of several days, the arbitration panel ruled in our client’s favor and he recovered almost all of his losses.
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