Gerald Dewes: $1.7MM Complaint Against Ex-Cadaret Grant Rep

A pending investor complaint against former East Amherst, New York broker Gerald Dewes (CRD# 2465538) alleges he made unsuitable recommendations and committed fraud, resulting in losses as high as $1.7 million. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) records reveal that Dewes is currently not registered as a broker or investment adviser, but was most recently registered with Cadaret Grant & Company.

Gerald Dewes’ FINRA-maintained BrokerCheck report lists three pending customer complaints and one settled customer complaint against him. It also lists a 2020 FINRA action barring him from acting as a broker in connection to findings he refused to provide requested testimony during a FINRA investigation “into his potential participation in undisclosed private securities transactions and outside business activities.” In 2019 he was discharged from his position at Cadaret Grant & Company over allegations he “sold away from the firm by soliciting client investments into an unapproved, undisclosed outside business activity for which he was an officer and director,” and that he converted the funds in question for personal use.

The most recently filed complaint against Gerald Dewes is a pending complaint filed in April 2021. It alleges that while he was a representative of Cadaret Grant & Company, he made unsuitable investment recommendations, committed common law fraud, breached contract, was negligent in his supervisory duties, and breached his fiduciary duty in connection with “an unapproved private investment and two OTC stocks” recommended through Dewes’ “independent registered investment adviser.” The pending complaint seeks unspecified damages.

Another complaint filed in April 2020 alleges that while a representative of Cadaret Grant & Company, Gerald Dewes committed fraud, was negligent in his supervisory duties, breached his fiduciary duty, breached contract, and unsuitably recommended unapproved private investments and over-the-counter securities. The pending complaint alleges damages of $1.71 million.

A pending complaint filed in March 2020 alleges that while at Cadaret Grant & Company, Gerald Dewes recommended an unsuitable real estate investment trust with high interest charges which the claimant “was not aware of.” The pending complaint alleges unspecified damages.

A 2003 complaint alleged that as a representative of John Hancock Financial Services, he recommended unsuitable transactions that resulted in losses. The complaint reached a settlement of $25,000.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) show that Gerald Dewes is not registered as a broker of investment adviser. His prior registrations include Cadaret Grant & Company in East Amherst, New York; Lincoln Financial Securities Corporation in Williamsville, New York; Notheast Securities in Mitchelfield, New York; Cambridge Investment Research in Fairfield, Iowa; John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company in Boston, Massachusetts; Signator Investors in Boston, Massachusetts; Securities America in La Vista, Nebraska; and Thomas James Associates in Rochester, New York. He has passed four securities industry qualifying examinations: the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series 63; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; the General Securities Representative Examination, or Series 7; and the General Securities Principal Examination, or Series 24. He currently holds no state securities licenses. (Information current as of July 13, 2021.)