Charles W. Ranson
Expert Witness
Wealth Management and Trust & Estates

Charles W. Ranson has 30 years experience in the wealth management segment of financial services. His career started in the securities business at Legg Mason, Washington, DC. He held positions at Merrill Lynch and Oppenheimer & Co. Ranson’s banking experience started in South Florida. holding senior positions at Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, US Trust Co and Atlantic Trust Co. He founded and ran Integritas Advisors, an SEC independent registered investment advisor, and was the founding chair of Tiger 21 Florida.

Ranson has real world experience in dealing with the complex relationships between investors and financial institutions. In his role as senior officer at all of the above firms, Ranson was involved with investment management, trust services, estate administration, credit and banking, derivatives, alternative investments, and risk management products. Ranson has worked with some of the wealthiest investors in the country. His experience with Tiger 21 provided him with a unique perspective on the relationships entrepreneurs and ultrahigh net worth investors have with investment and wealth advisors and the challenges they face in intergenerational planning.

Challenging Cases Where My Experience Adds Value to the Litigation Team

Investors and financial service providers have become increasingly more complex. Bank fiduciaries, registered investment advisors and security broker-dealers all have different regulators and regulations. The marketing platforms include registered investment advisors, wealth advisors, multifamily offices, private wealth managers, private banking departments and independent trust companies. Firms may manage money internally or only a portion of the client’s portfolio and make recommendations using third-party advisors to achieve their client’s objectives. Some advisors today do not manage any money they advise on asset allocation strategies, instead using outside managers or third parties to fulfill client needs. The use of third-party investment managers by registered investment advisors creates a fiduciary obligation to perform initial and ongoing due diligence of those third-party managers.

The use of sophisticated derivatives and risk management products also increases the complexity that private clients have with wealth advisors. Structured investment products are a fast-growing investment tool recommended by wealth advisors as a risk management tool to achieve a stated investment goal. However, the full disclosure of risk and transparency of how these financial products actually work in different market environments is still being tested.

Why Involve an Expert Witness Early

For more information on how Ranson’s experience enables him to provide practical industry context as an expert witness in wealth management legal disputes, watch the above videos.

Please call (561) 371-7570 for a CV.