Investments

Morgan Stanley Miss. office reimburses customers for investment losses

259 accounts from 15 states were affected, including 194 accounts in Mississippi and 25 in Louisiana.

The Mississippi secretary of state says investment firm Morgan Stanley will pay up to $4.2 million to partially reimburse customers who suffered “inordinate losses” because a portfolio manager allegedly used high-risk investments for people who hadn’t agreed to them.

Steve Wyatt

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann says the firm agreed to resolve an investigation by the securities division of his office. In a consent order released Tuesday, the firm neither admits nor denies the division’s allegations about conduct by Steven Wyatt, who worked as portfolio manager in its Ridgeland, Miss., office, before being fired in 2012 for allegedly using unapproved outside investments, according to BrokerCheck.

Hosemann says 259 accounts from 15 states were affected. He says 194 accounts were in Mississippi and 25 in Louisiana. Others were in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.