Investment Adviser Accused of Double Dipping, Pushing Needless Fees

Dean Patrick McDermott and McDermott Investment Advisors LLC unlawfully steered clients to a more expensive security than was necessary and engaged in “double dipping,” according to a new federal lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The defendants “invested their clients in a version of a security that charged significant transactional sales charges when the identical security without these costs was available,” the SEC claims. They also failed to disclose to the clients that there was an important conflict of interest in these transactions, in that a majority of these unnecessary costs was paid to McDermott Investment Services ...