A $3 million investment account became the focus of a dispute between a Dallas retiree and Edward Jones.
That’s what caught The Watchdog’s eye.
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Larry Williams, an 86-year-old former IBM salesman, says he tried to withdraw money from an Edward Jones investment account he has held for two decades. Instead, he says, the company refused to release his funds, questioned his mental competence and suggested he could be the victim of a scam — or even using the money to finance terrorists.
The financial advisers at the Edward Jones office on the 5100 block of Belt Line Road in Dallas told him they were protecting his giant nest egg.
Williams insists none of that is true.
Wait. Can a company stop someone from getting their own money?
The Watchdog ran this by an Edward Jones spokesperson in St. Louis where the company is headquartered, I received the barest of responses, even though Williams signed a privacy waiver so they could speak to me about his case.
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Instead, a company spokesperson sent this statement:
“Edward Jones follows industry-required safeguards before disbursing funds to help protect clients and uphold the trust they place in us. Our top priority remains serving our clients and helping them achieve financially what is most important to them.”
‘I know what I’m doing’
As Williams tells it, “They alluded to the fact that I’m 86 years old and probably have dementia, and therefore they need to take control of me.”
The Watchdog is no doctor, but Williams tells his story so smartly that he doesn’t appear to have dementia. I had half a dozen phone conversations with him too.
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Continuing, he told me “I said, ‘Look, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’ll take a cognitive test to prove to you that I’m not senile. I know what I’m doing.’ ”
He continued, “They said ‘You know you could be giving money to terrorist groups.’
“I said, ‘Give me a break. You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t do that sort of thing.’”
When they asked him how he planned to spend the money, he said he told them, ‘It’s really none of your business how I spend my money.’
“They said, ‘Yes, it is. According to federal and industry regulations we can freeze your money, and we can take charge of it.’ ”
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One employee gave him a list of seven documents to bring in to prove his identity. He brought in six. The seventh wasn’t available.
Not good enough, they told him.
He told them he planned to use part of the money to help distressed family members, pay $10,000 to the IRS, pay monthly bills and save for emergencies.
Hearing that, he was told “I’m locking you down.”
“That’s insane,” he remembers telling them. “This whole thing is so strange.”
“She thinks my family is taking advantage of me,” he told me in one interview.
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Williams told me he is a deacon at Prestonwood Baptist Church, supervises ushers and runs a Sunday school class.
“If there was something wrong with me, they wouldn’t have me do that.”
Rules
All he wants to do now is transfer his money to Merrill Lynch. They wouldn’t let him, telling him that a temporary hold like he endured could last legally up to 55 days.
Federal and state rules allow financial companies to freeze or withhold funds during investigations into suspicious activity or potential crimes. These rules exist to prevent elder financial exploitation, romance scams and other frauds.
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Edward Jones did contact Williams’ relative. Yet Williams still couldn’t get access to his own money.
Only after The Watchdog contacted Edward Jones did the firm approve a transfer to Merrill Lynch.
Williams called with an update.
“Got a call from Merrill Lynch saying about half of my account is being transferred to them.”
Progress, yes. Victory, no.
